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Journal of Cleaner Production 16S1 (2008) S181eS183www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Note from the field

European environmental technologies action plan (ETAP)

Ignacio Calleja a,*, Luis Delgado b,1

a LABEIN/TECNALIA Technological Centre, Parque Tecnologico de Bizkaia, 48160 Derio (Bizkaia), Spainb Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), JRC European Commission, Edificio EXPO, C/. Inca Garcilaso, s/n 41092 Sevilla, Spain

Available online 26 November 2007

Abstract

The EU is committed to green growth through the Lisbon strategy. Amongst the actions to step up the development and wider use of envi-ronmental technologies the European Commission adopted and has already started to implement the Environmental Technologies Action Plan(ETAP). The Environmental Technologies Action Plan contains 28 actions to improve the development and uptake of environmental technol-ogies which must be implemented at European, national, regional or local level, with the involvement of industry and relevant stakeholders.Three of the most important actions are the technology platforms, the Environmental Technologies Verification System and the developmentof Performance Targets. ETAP consists of a broad package of measures, most of which still need to be implemented. It is therefore hard topredict the future impact on clean technology development and deployment of the measures in ETAP.� 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: ETAP; Technology platforms; Performance targets; Verification systems

The EU is committed to green growth through the Lisbonstrategy.2 Amongst the actions to step up the developmentand wider use of environmental technologies the EuropeanCommission adopted and has already started to implementthe Environmental Technologies Action Plan (ETAP).3 It isbased on the assumption that there is a significant untappedtechnological potential for improving the environment whilecontributing to competitiveness and growth.

The Action Plan objectives are:

� to remove the obstacles so as to tap the full potential of en-vironmental technologies for protecting the environmentwhile contributing to competitiveness and economic growth;

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ34 946073300; fax: þ34 946073349.

E-mail address: icalleja@labein.es (I. Calleja).1 Tel.: þ34 95 4488 327; fax: þ34 95 4488 279.2 ETAP materializes the EU strategy for sustainable development launched

in 2001 in Goteborg. The Goteborg strategy complemented the Lisbon strategy

to make the EU ‘‘the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based econ-

omy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and bet-

ter jobs and greater social cohesion’’.3 COM(2004) 38.

0959-6526/$ - see front matter � 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2007.10.005

� to ensure that over the coming years the EU takes a leadingrole in developing and applying environmental technologies;� to mobilise all stakeholders in support of these objectives.

The Environmental Technologies Action Plan contains 28actions to improve the development and uptake of environ-mental technologies which must be implemented at European,national, regional or local level, with the involvement of indus-try and relevant stakeholders. Eleven of the identified actionsare considered as priority actions (PAs), which are grouped ac-cording to aims:

Getting from research to marketsIncrease and better coordinate research (PA1),Launch technology platforms bringing together researchers,industry, financial institutions, decision-makers and otherrelevant stakeholders (PA2),Establish European networks of testing e European Envi-ronmental Technologies Verification System (PA3),

Improving market conditionsDevelop and agree performance targets for key products,processes and services (PA4),

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Mobilise financial instruments to share investment risks(PA5),Review state aid guidelines (PA6),Review environmentally harmful subsidies (PA7),Encourage procurement of environmental technologies(PA8),Raise business and consumer awareness (PA9),Provide targeted training (PA10),

Acting globallyPromote responsible investments in and use of environmen-tal technologies in developing and economies in transitioncountries (PA11) e eg through trade agreements, develop-ment of cooperation funds.

Three of the most important actions are the technologyplatforms, the Environmental Technologies Verification Sys-tem and the development of Performance Targets.

European Technology Platforms (ETPs)4 are a tool aimingto define research and development priorities. They shouldincrease Europe’s innovative capacity bringing together theindustry, the research community and the financial world toagree long-term research agendas with concrete deliverables.These technology platforms can also contribute to the achieve-ment of the European research area.

The first technology platforms were initiated in 2002e2003and after 4 years there are 34 TPs up and running, some ofthem involve more than 200 players that clearly show thebig interest showed by the European industry to this initiative.

Two of the main key factors for a successful implementa-tion of ETPs are the clear leading role of the European indus-try establishing through the Scientific Research Agendas(SRAs) the main research topics to be included in the VIIFramework Program5 and the funding sources that should in-clude not only the European Commission but also national andregional administrations and the private sector.

Another important issue is the involvement of the EuropeanSMEs within this process. Innovative SMEs are essential keyplayers of European R&D so a correct involvement and partic-ipation of SMEs in ETPs is essential.

Environmental Technology Verification (ETV)6 programsare a recent development, which originates in North America7,8

where they started in the mid-90s. The objective is to acceleratemarket acceptance of innovative technologies by providingusers with information about performance, thereby substan-tially reducing the uncertainty for purchasers. Vendor-generateddata have been viewed with skepticism and, consequently, highperforming innovative technologies that have the potential toprotect the environment have faced substantial market barriers.It has therefore been considered necessary to establish a market-based verification process in cooperation with the private sector

4 http://cordis.europa.eu/technology-platforms/home_en.html.5 http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/.6 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/etap/.7 http://www.epa.gov/etv/.8 http://www.etvcanada.com/.

in order to overcome those market barriers and assure that datacould be accessible, understandable, and credible. Verificationmust not be confused with certification. The need, objectivesand structure of an eventual European verification scheme arecurrently under discussion.

When deciding for an environmental technology verifica-tion program, a balance between the number of technologiesexpected to be verified and the cost of implementing sucha program must be taken into account. For example, Australiandid consider an ETV program but decided later to not imple-ment it, mainly due to un-sufficient business case. Further-more, the structure of such a system and whether it shouldbe funded mainly by public or private money must be carefullyconsidered. The real interest of the European industry in theimplementation of this European Verification System will bea critical issue for its success.

Opening the program to all environmental technologiescould be unproductive if evaluated technologies are eithertoo new or on the contrary widely established. Instead, defin-ing priority technology areas that cover a true need on the end-user side would make the program more efficient.

Cooperation with other programs worldwide may ensure costeffectiveness of the European system and accelerate its full imple-mentation. Effective cooperation could concern sharing of proto-cols and enabling mutual recognition of verification results.

All the running programs are open to foreign technologiesand so should a European version be. The recognition of ver-ifications across the different programs will also ensure a realindustry interest.

Performance Targets9 could be seen as a statistical tool,a form of indicator to be used in environment policies, settinga performance level, which should become a minimum level ina certain time. However, the idea behind the PT concept ismuch broader; to move from a ‘‘best practice strategy’’ toa ‘‘best performance strategy’’, using the achievements of to-day’s best practices and research to establish a guiding visionfor the transformation of the economy in the mid and long-term towards sustainable patterns of production.

The advantage of using a performance driven strategy isthat a medium and long-term vision can be established, whichgives producers and customers reasonable time to adjust sup-ply and demand, while creating a climate for continuous im-provement. The targets can become strong drivers forinvesting into new technologies, and in replacing old technol-ogies by more sustainable technologies.

Performance Targets (PTs) should set a clear signal to de-velopers and users of processes and even other actors on themarket as a target that should be reached on a voluntary basis.To deal with the fact that industrial sectors are often very com-plex, the targets should be formulated in a way that the differ-ent actors can together find a way to attain them.

An important characteristic is that the targets to be usedare long-term and progressive, in the sense that the targetsshould be improved/strengthened with time in a planned

9 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/etap/.

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and foreseeable manner. The fact that it will be clear to ev-erybody that the targets will be stepwise tougher and tougherwill increase the chance for the Performance Targets both todeliver an improved market for the environmental technolo-gies that are already on the market or close to market, andto ‘‘guarantee’’ a market for the new innovative products,processes and services, that are to be developed in the nearfuture.

PTs are an instrument that are intended to make it possiblefor a whole branch to approach a considerably lower level ofenvironmental impact, a level that fully utilises the possibili-ties offered by new technologies. The PTs are intended to‘‘work on the market’’. Thus the PTs should, in some sense,be a common concept for both producers and customers of

different kinds to refer to. In order to make the PT conceptsuccessful in the market situation, close cooperation with pro-curement activities, labelling and so forth has to beestablished.

ETAP consists of a broad package of measures, most ofwhich still need to be implemented. It is therefore hard to pre-dict the future impact on clean technology development anddeployment of the measures in ETAP. The Commission doesnot want to go down a regulatory track for stimulating envi-ronmental technologies but is interested in the use of mar-ket-based instruments. The Commission is preparing a greenpaper on the use of market-based instruments in environmentalpolicy that will look more generally on the scope for the fur-ther use of such instruments at the EU and national levels.