V Technological options
9.30 While environmental regulation has broadened from considering emissions to a single environmental medium to considering emissions to all media from a process, analysis of environmental performance has been extended even further to cover the whole material and energy supply chains associated with a product to service.
9.31 Taking account of life cycle considerations is the preferable way of managing the overall environmental impact of particular processes or particular industrial sectors because it directs attention to the points at which intervention to protect the environment will be most effective and efficient.
9.32 Policy guidance is needed on where the boundaries of life cycle assessments should be drawn.
9.33 To ensure that the full ranges of options and repercussions are considered, assessments of technological options carried out as inputs to decisions on environmental policies or standards should be on a life cycle basis.
9.34 Particular options should not be excluded from life cycle assessments on the ground that action required to implement them falls outside the responsibilities of the immediate regulator.
9.35 To the extent that regulation of industrial activities continues to use permits and forms of standard on lines similar to those used at present, their use should in future be informed by a life cycle perspective. If necessary, there should be changes in legislation so that the full potential for that can be realised.
9.36 Broadly based assessments of options on a life cycle basis must not be allowed to become an excuse for avoiding or delaying significant improvements available at particular stages in the cycle.
43. The Government believes that life cycle assessment (LCA) is a useful tool in developing environmental standards. As the Royal Commission note, it can help identify where intervention will be most effective, and ensure that all impacts of a process are properly taken into account. As such, it can contribute to better decision making.
44. Life cycle assessment can, in theory, be applied in several different contexts, and the Royal Commission's report touches on several of these. For example, it could apply to consideration of:
- manufacturing and production processes
- manufactured products (taking account, for example, of the resource used in the product)
- the use of products 'downstream' in the economy (for example, how they are distributed, what they consume, or how they are disposed of); or
- whole areas of activity and alternatives within them (for example, transport or tourism).
45. The scale and complexity of such assessments will vary according to circumstances. Carrying out a substantial life cycle analysis as part of routine processes of environmental regulation could be resource-intensive and burdensome. While sometimes it will be appropriate for decision-makers and regulators to identify and consider options outside their direct responsibilities, there are limits to this.
46. For example, one reason why the EU ecolabelling scheme has made such slow progress is the detail into which its life cycle analyses of products has gone - and the complex debate to which this has given rise. Some attempt to overcome this is being made in the revisions to the present EU ecolabelling Regulation, which try to simplify the assessment process. Research carried out for DETR shows that the more successful ecolabelling schemes around the world have taken a much more streamlined approach to identifying key environmental criteria.
47. Because the precise nature of a life cycle assessment will need to vary according to the circumstances, the Government does not propose to issue a single set of guidance on where the boundaries of life cycle assessments should lie. However, it is certainly interested in promoting awareness about life-cycle thinking and encouraging its use. For example, a new introductory guidance to the subject has been sponsored by DETR for publication under the Environmental Technology Best Practice Programme. The Environment Agency has developed a new software tool (WISARD) that applies the techniques of LCA to the assessment of waste management options. And the Government is actively using LCA techniques to investigate some of the more difficult environmental questions such as the relative environmental impacts of PVC and its alternatives.
48. The Government believes that some of the principles identified by the Royal Commission should have widespread application. For example, it is important not to exclude options from life cycle analysis on narrow grounds: so assessments of alternative materials or manufacturing processes for a product should take proper account of the knock-on effects which those options have in the "use" phase and the "end of life" phase of the product's life cycle. Nor should life cycle analyses get in the way of practical improvements available now - for example, the problem of end-of-life vehicles may turn out to be small in the context of the total life cycle impact of road vehicles, but is a substantial issue in its own right and one where early practical action can be identified and taken.
9.35 The aim of assessments of technological options should be seen as widening the range of options considered, including those that involve technology or commercialisation forcing.
9.36 There should be scope for suppliers or users of improved technologies to stimulate tightening of standards.
49. The Government agrees that in some circumstances it may be appropriate to set environmental standards which involve technology or commercialisation forcing. For example, the Government's Cleaner Vehicles Task Force report in 1999 produced wide-ranging recommendations aimed at reducing the environmental impacts of existing, new and future vehicles. The Task Force also published a booklet on the environmental performance of most new petrol and diesel cars on sale in the UK, aimed at enabling buyers to make an informed choice. On a longer term basis, Foresight Vehicle, which was a recommendation of the first Foresight round, focuses on developing product and process technologies for use in mass-market vehicles of 2020 that are clean, efficient and sustainable. It has a growing network of over 350 organisations and comprises a research portfolio of over £65 million. It would be helpful if the Commission could give examples of other areas where they believe technology or commercialisation forcing would be appropriate.
50. The Government does not accept that suppliers of technology should be able directly to stimulate tightening of standards, since this would cut across the need to make standard setting as objective and disinterested as possible. However, within the framework of integrated pollution control, the development of new technologies does indirectly change standards through the concept of Best Available Technique. If an effective new technology becomes available and is not excessively costly it will be mandatory for regulated industries to use it.
9. 40 The Environment Agencies must harness highly qualified staff.
51. The Government agrees with the Commission that environmental regulators must make use of highly qualified staff, to avoid, for example, over-conservative or over-optimistic regulation, or over-reliance on assessments of technological options made by regulated organisations. It also notes that the Commission did not suggest that the Environment Agency was failing in this regard.
52. The Government is aware that the Environment Agency has sought to develop a pool of highly qualified people, in particular through development of skills within the organisation. It undertakes assessments of competencies required for key regulatory posts and puts plans in place to deliver them. The Agency has also pulled together people with particular specialisms into National Centres, so that they can benefit from a 'critical mass' of experts.
53. The Agency has reinforced its expertise in areas which are important for wider, more inclusive approaches to standard setting, such as in economics and social science. It is also examining the need for greater in-house expertise in public health matters. The need for specialist staff in these areas will be one of the issues considered in the Financial Management and Policy Review of the Agency later in 2000.
54. The Environment Agency has taken over responsibility for drafting the guidance issued to local authorities by the Secretary of State under the Local Air Pollution Control (LAPC) system. The work will be undertaken by the Local Authority Unit, which was restaffed in 1999 with an environmental health officer and an environmental scientist, both with considerable LAPC experience. Location of the Unit within the Agency will benefit cross-fertilisation of local authority and Agency expertise.
55. Responsibility for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency now falls to the Scottish Executive.
9.41 The very slow progress made with assessment of existing chemical substances has demonstrated the need for an entirely fresh approach. The current reviews provide a timely opportunity.
9.42 We consider that the criterion of comparison with the risk presented by other available substances should be introduced into all regulatory procedures for the marketing and use of chemicals, including those covering reactants and intermediates.
56. The slow progress of assessment of existing substances was one of the underlying reasons for the review of chemicals policy which the Deputy Prime Minister launched in 1997. Concern about progress was also a major factor in the review of European Community chemicals policy which was launched in June 1998, during the UK's Presidency of the European Union.
57. Following the UK review, the Government published its Chemicals Strategy in December 1999. The Strategy sets out policies for:
- the continued reduction of risks presented by chemicals to the environment and human health, while maintaining competitiveness of industry;
- the early phase-out of those chemicals identified as being of unacceptable risk to the environment and human health; and
- making full information publicly available on environmental risks of chemicals.
58. The Strategy will build on a voluntary data gathering and hazard assessment initiative originating with the international chemicals industry, which aims to deliver 1,000 hazard assessments for high production volume (HPV) chemicals by 2004.
59. A new Chemicals Stakeholder Forum will be central to delivering the objectives of the Strategy. The Forum, to be established by Summer 2000, will bring together industry, environment groups and other stakeholders with an interest in chemicals issues. It will be an independent body, but will be supported by Government and underpinned by technical expertise available through the existing network of Government advisory committees. The Forum will be very open in operation and full information about its activities will be made publicly available.
60. The Stakeholder Forum will advise on criteria for identifying chemicals of concern, i.e. those chemicals which are likely to cause serious or irreversible damage to the environment. These criteria will be applied to chemicals within the international industry programme and to other chemicals, including ones proposed by the Forum as being of potential concern. The criteria will take into account the key properties of persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity.
61. Where a chemical meets the criteria for concern, the Forum will review a summary of available information and advise on risk management strategies proposed, where necessary, by industry. On the basis of the Forum's advice, the Government will assess the risk management strategies and seek to agree voluntary but binding agreements with industry to reduce risks. This should make progress on reducing risks from environmental exposure to chemicals possible much more quickly than through the lengthy process of formulating, negotiating and adopting European legislation.
62. The precautionary approach underpins the actions set out in the Strategy in the following ways:
- chemicals produced in high volumes which meet the criteria for concern (see above) will be subject to risk management strategies even if a full risk assessment has not yet been produced;
- risk reduction strategies in partnership with industry will be agreed without having to wait for lengthy legislative processes; and
- even where toxicity has not been proved, chemicals produced in high volumes which are persistent and bioaccumulative will be put forward for priority review.
63. As the Chemicals Strategy makes clear, the substitution of hazardous chemicals by safer alternatives should always be considered in risk reduction strategies. One of the Strategy's commitments is to develop indicators of environmental exposure to hazardous chemicals, including targets for reducing overall exposure of the environment. 64. Industry should be looking to reduce continuously the impacts of chemical production and use on the environment and on human health. This should include systematic replacement of the most hazardous chemicals by less hazardous ones. Where restrictions on the marketing and use of a chemical are introduced, we would certainly expect replacements to be less hazardous.
65. The review of EU legislation on chemicals is due to be concluded this Summer. The EU Environment Council last year called for the review to consider measures that
- provide an efficient and integrated design of the various legal instruments for chemicals;
- place the main responsibility on industry for generating and assessing data;
- adopt a more flexible approach to risk assessment with the aim of targeting; and
- establish risk management strategies for certain chemicals on the basis of their inherent properties.
66. The Government continues to make a full contribution to the development of the EU review and we believe that the Chemicals Strategy has made an important contribution.
Published 21 November 2000
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