Europe is lagging behind China and the USA when it comes to investment in energy efficient products policy according to a new study. To ‘stop the rot’ and become competitive, Europe must invest more in innovative policies such the Ecodesign Directive says the Coolproducts coalition who are launching the report in European Parliament today.
The study compares Europe’s product policy with China, USA, Japan and Australia and revealed stark differences in resource investment. The USA, a similar sized economy to Europe, invests ten times more hours per year than the EU with over 500,000 hours, compared to Europe’s 48,000 hours. China invests 112,000 hours. Until 2011 Europe also only managed an average of 2.8 new regulations per year on products, while the USA led again with five. Hopes are high however that Europe will smash that average this year.
“Europe should be a place of innovation and the USA and China have begun to see that innovation lies within energy efficient products, backing this up with investment. If Europe wants to remain competitive, as well as cut CO2 emissions and reduce our energy bills, they need to invest more time and resources into product policy,” said Stephane Arditi from the Coolproducts Coalition.
It was not all bad news for Europe. The study found that the EU has a far more comprehensive environmental approach than their peers, able to move policy beyond just energy use rules and regulate crosscutting issues such as stand-by modes that impact several product groups.
Coolproducts says that the policies are there in Europe but have lacked the backing to deliver more. Ecodesign and Energy Labelling regulations can be particularly beneficial, say the group, and with reviews comings up shortly there is an opportunity to increase their effectiveness.
The report also highlighted Japan’s top runner approach, where leading products set a benchmark on minimum requirements for the next generation of products, and Australia’s product monitoring capabilities as aspects Europe should emulate.
Source : European Environmental Bureau