Industrial emissions directive revision approved by the EU Parliament

From the correspondent in Strasbourg – Having passed the European Parliament’s test, the revised industrial emissions directive only needs the green light from the 27 EU governments before it can officially enter into force. With 393 votes in favour, 173 against, and 49 abstentions, the plenary session of the parliament gave today (March 12) the final approval for the agreement reached with the EU Council at the end of November 2023 on the EU’s main instrument to regulate pollution from industrial facilities, including intensive livestock farms. The parliamentary majority held without any particular problems, with Greens/Ale and Left plugging the split among the European Populars (Forza Italia in favour) and some exit among the liberals of Renew Europe (including the newly enrolled Action member, Fabio Massimo Castaldo).

The European Commission put forward the proposed revision in April two years ago to give a steer to the efficiency and reuse of energy, water, and materials in the industrial sector, but also to promote the use of safer, less toxic or non-toxic chemicals in industrial processes. However, intensive livestock farms (responsible for producing nitrogen oxide, ammonia, mercury, methane, and carbon dioxide) have played  the leading role particularly during the wave of protests by European farmers during the last six weeks. “We believe that the agricultural sector should not be considered an industrial sector, so separate legislation is needed,” Cristina Tinelli, head of the Confagricoltura office in Brussels, commented to Enews before the plenary vote.

The core of the revision concerns the expansion of facilities covered by the directive, extended, for example, to large pig farms (above 350 livestock units), broiler chickens (280 units) and laying hens (300 units), while for farms raising both pigs and poultry, the limit will be 380 units. The cattle farms—which instead appeared in the EU Commission’s proposal—have been excluded from the scope of the directive according to the hardline imposed by MEPs during the trialogue. Nevertheless, the EU executive may assess by the end of 2026 whether emissions from cattle farming need to be further addressed, as well as a reciprocity clause to ensure that non-EU producers comply with similar requirements to those for European producers. Extensive farms and domestic animal husbandry are also excluded from the scope. 

In addition to intensive livestock farming, the directive will also apply to metal mining and large-scale battery production, covering mining and processing of non-energy minerals produced on an industrial scale such as iron, copper, gold, nickel, and platinum: by 2028, a reassessment by the EU Commission (and every five years thereafter) on emission levels may come. Dicofol and two types of PFAS—perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and its salts and perfluorohexane-1-sulfonic acid (PFOS)—will also be considered pollutants to be regulated.

With 506 votes in favour, 82 against, and 25 abstentions, MEPs finally approved the transformation of the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register into the new European Industrial Emissions Portal to improve public access to information on licensing, operation, and monitoring of regulated facilities, and local polluting activities. Companies that fail to comply with the revised directive (after Council approval and publication in the EU Official Journal, 22 months will be granted) will face penalties of no less than 3 per cent of their annual turnover, and citizens will be able to claim compensation for health damage.