19/11/09 | Competitiveness, energy and environment

Ecodesign for a sustainable future

The EU's Sustainable Consumption and Production, and Sustainable Industrial Policy Action Plan, adopted in July 2008, is about ensuring products on the single market become more environmentally friendly. The action plan aims to move Europe further towards the development of a low-carbon economy, while encouraging European enterprises to develop the skills and know-how required to establish and maintain a leading position in the global market place for eco-friendly products and services.

Ecodesign is a central plank of the action plan, on the basis that products on European markets should be designed, from the outset, to minimise the environmental impact of their manufacture, use and disposal, in particular the related energy consumption. EU efforts in this field, starting in the 1990s, first focused on specific product groups with high energy consumption, such as boilers and refrigerators. In 2005, the Ecodesign Directive widened the approach, so that all products which consume energy during use could be covered. But rather than set specific requirements for each type of product in the Directive, it simply provides a framework for all energy-using products. Individual pieces of implementing legislation then enable mandatory ecodesign criteria and requirements to be set - and updated - for product groups on a case-by-case basis.

Widespread impact

So far, the European Commission has adopted nine implementing measures which will result in estimated annual savings of 341 TW-h (i.e. billion kW-h) in electricity consumption (or the equivalent of 12% of the Union's 2007 consumption). Examples include requirements to reduce energy consumed by appliances on 'standby', to reduce consumption of domestic lights and street and office lights, to improve efficiency of electric motors and television sets. Another nine measures are close to adoption, on products including washing machines, boilers, personal computers, air-conditioning and ventilation and imaging equipment. The Commission is also at an earlier stage in preparing a further ten or so measures, in areas including commercial refrigeration, transformers, vacuum cleaners and dryers.

Industry contributes fully to the development of the criteria and requirements for each product group. In some areas, the European Commission has responded to industry initiatives to develop voluntary ecodesign requirements, encouraging stakeholders to work together. Currently, discussions are taking place with a view to seeking voluntary agreements on medical equipment, complex set-top boxes, copiers and printers and machine tools. If successful, such agreements should respect the principles set out in the Directive, but in general provide a faster and more flexible solution than formal implementing measures adopted by the Commission.

Extending the scope

A key measure of the action plan was the extension of the Ecodesign Directive to include not only energy-using products but also other energy-related items. These are products which have an influence on energy consumption when they are being used, whilst not directly consuming energy. Examples include shower heads and taps, windows and insulation materials, and detergents.

The European Parliament and Council adopted the revised Ecodesign Directive [1 MB] in October 2009. Apart from extending the scope of the Directive to cover these additional types of product, it maintains its other provisions unchanged, including the means for agreeing implementing measures for individual product groups. The European Commission is required to review the effectiveness of the Directive by 2012, and in particular whether its scope should be further extended, i.e. to include products which have neither direct nor indirect impact on energy consumption in their use, but have an impact on other environmental conditions.

Energy labelling

Consumers have got used to seeing energy ratings - A, A+, etc. - on household appliances. An indication of the energy consumption of a given product in comparison to others of its type, energy labelling is a means to encourage consumers to consider the lifetime running costs and environmental impact of their appliances alongside the initial purchase price. The energy labelling system was introduced in a 1992 Directive covering household appliances, or so-called 'white goods'. All such products must display the label when sold new.

In the action plan, the European Commission proposed to extend the Energy Labelling Directive to cover all energy-related products. This would bring it into line with the revised Ecodesign Directive, so that provisions for both design criteria and consumption rating thresholds can be agreed together, simplifying the process of preparing implementing measures.

In addition, the Commission has proposed harmonising the levels at which incentives may be offered to consumers to choose eco-friendly options; to avoid, for example, consumers in some Member States receiving a tax rebate or grant to purchase a refrigerator rated B or better, whilst in others such rebates or grants are only available for refrigerators rated A+ or better. The Commission has also proposed that Member States should use public procurement as a means to encourage the widespread introduction of lower-consuming products into the market place, through, for instance, stipulating minimum energy ratings for products offered in response to purchase requests. Harmonising the levels for incentives and public procurement criteria will also provide certainty and benefits for forward-looking manufacturers developing new high-performing products.

The proposal for revising the Energy Labelling Directive is currently being discussed in the European Parliament and Council. It should be noted that energy labelling is separate from eco-labelling, which is a voluntary scheme for manufacturers to inform consumers of the environmentally friendly credentials of their product.

The text only of the articles can be republished as long as the source of the article is quoted: Enterprise & Industry magazine (http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/magazine/index_en.htm), © European Union, 2008 - 2012