Robust fuel efficiency standards for cars could create up to 443,000 new jobs by 2030 and add €16 billion per year to Europe’s GDP, according to the first economic study of the effects of CO2 legislation on the auto-industry.
The Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe is a strategic plan released by the European Commission in September of 2011 that outlines in very broad terms the medium (2020) and long term (2050) objectives that need to be achieved if the EU is to combat resource scarcity and significantly decrease environmental impact while becoming more competitive. It is divided into over 40 action points that the Commission needs to take and an additional 41 points the Commission and Member States will have to act on together. With over 80 points of action, the goal is to have an impact on every resource intensive sector.
In December 2011, European Commissioner for the Environment, Janez Potočnik, launched the Eco-Innovation Action Plan (EcoAP). This is an over-arching strategy to guide regulation, standardisation and R&D support towards a top-level goal: stimulating demand and supply of green technologies in Europe. Its premise is that eco-innovation already is economically important – and will become even more so in future if the policy environment is right.
