Industrial Affairs
IMA Europe Annual Report 2013
Environment
Product Stewardship
Industrial Minerals Your World is Made of Them
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TABLE OF CONTENTS A YEAR AT A GLANCE
04
INDUSTRIAL AFFAIRS
06 Raw Materials and Industrial Policy
07
Climate Change
12
Innovation 13
ENVIRONMENT
16 Revision of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive
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European Fund for Industrial Accidents
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Ambient Air Policy and Industrial Emissions
19
Biodiversity 20
PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP
IMA-Europe Life Cycle Inventory (IMA LCI)
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Review of Waste Policy and Legislation
23
24 Respirable Crystalline Silica
25
Accident Reduction
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Nanomaterials 26
COMMUNICATION
IMA-EUROPE STRUCTURE
Chemical Policy
27
Minerals in Agriculture
28
30 European Minerals Day 2013 – A New Dimension
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Other 2013 Communication Achievements
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A YEAR AT A GLANCE At the end of 2012, the IMA-Europe Presidency changed, and Thierry Salmona (Imerys) handed over his mandate to Daniel J. Reuss (Omya). We hereby wish to express our warm appreciation to Thierry for his dedication and excellent management during the four years of his Presidency.
Daniel J. Reuss President
Michelle Wyart Remy Secretary General
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Looking at IMA-Europe activity since our 2012 General Assembly gives us reasons for satisfaction. In this short period, the Association and the sector have driven a number of prominent initiatives, contributed to a couple of projects and built various positions with real success while maintaining at the same time a close and dynamic cooperation with the various concerned sister- and users’ associations. We highlight the progress made in this Annual Report, but just let us mention a few. IMA-Europe takes an active part in shaping the European Raw Materials policy to come. First, thanks to a strong presence in all governance bodies of the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials (EIP RM) and Jean-Luc Deleersnyder (Sibelco CEO) representing the Industrial Minerals industry in its High Level Steering Group. This allows IMA-Europe to ensure that the EIP Strategic Innovation Plan to be endorsed in September reflects the interests of the sector. Benefiting from the high profile of the European Minerals Day (EMD) and the appraisal by the Institutions of this industry-led initiative, IMA-Europe took advantage of the 2013 EMD edition to embark many EIP RM stakeholders in a round of prominent events, widely attended in the
Brussels European Parliament. The attention on the mineral industry culminated with the EMD launch event supported by Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani who visited the Omya calcium carbonate mine in Vipiteno (Italy). IMA-Europe also contributes to other European projects ensuing from the Raw Materials Initiative, such as the update of the Critical Raw Materials list, the development of a pan-European (statistical) database on Raw Materials deposits (Minventory). IMA-Europe also committed to actively contributing to Innovation projects; first in being one of the founding members of A-SPIRE (the Association of Sustainable Process Industries through Resource & Energy Efficiency) and also in running the Working Package “Dissemination and Exploitation” of the FP7 funded project “STOICISM”, led by Imerys.
With sadness, we would like to pay tribute with this Activity Report to Dan Germiquet, Chief Geologist at Imerys, who tragically passed away in a train accident last August. His expertise and friendship will be missed by all in industry who knew him. We would also like to pay tribute to Michel Denys (Carmeuse), former Chairman of the IMA Environment Committee, who passed away in May this year. His expertise and kindness will be missed.
Finally, at the eve of IMA-Europe 20th anniversary, we started the ambitious project to draft an Industrial Minerals sector Roadmap to be finalised first half of 2014. Aiming at documenting the sector’s future and addressing the challenges set by the EU 2020 and beyond Growth Strategy, the Roadmap will particularly focus on Resource Efficiency and the role of industrial minerals in a green and low carbon economy. It is thanks to the knowledgeable support of the IMA-Europe Members and experts and the IMA Secretariat team that all these activities were successfully completed and we would like to warmly thank all of them.
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INDUSTRIAL AFFAIRS Raw Materials and Industrial Policy Climate Change Innovation
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Raw Materials and Industrial Policy Since the publication of the Raw Materials Initiative in 20081, the focus on raw materials in the EU has steadily increased. In addition to the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials (see under “Innovation” below), a number of initiatives were pursued. We report on those of interest which IMA-Europe closely follows. A general insight is always possible through our long-lasting participation to DG Enterprise Raw Materials Supply Group (RMSG) which in 2012 reinforced its rules for stakeholders’ participation through a call for applications for membership. The aim was to better balance the group with regards to non-industry interest (academia, NGOs, and research institutes dealing with resources). It must also be noted that recently the forest-based (wood and paper) and rubber industries have integrated the F3 Resource-based industries Unit headed by Mattia Pellegrini. Interestingly, the Commission has just issued a call for tender to complete an overview on the competitiveness of the European mineral raw materials sector, i.e. non-energy extractive industries (NEEI) and the related recycling industries (RI). Based on collected available data, the study should assess the impact of economic, environmental and other policies on the performance of the industry in a global context, taking into account the difference between Member States with regard to access to land and time-frame of the administrative procedures.
IM Roadmap The IM Roadmap intends to communicate the IM sector vision for the future. It will not only address the challenges set by the EU 2020 and beyond Growth Strategy, but also aim at raising awareness of the essentiality of industrial minerals and their contribution to innovation and to a sustainable society. Having identified the most relevant areas for the IM sector, the Roadmap will focus on Resource Efficiency and the role of IM in achieving the targets set by the European Commission at EU level. The Industrial Minerals (IM) Roadmap drafting committee has intensively been working on its development in the past months. Based on the outcome of the interactive Workshop organised in November 2012, the group has prepared a “dummy” Roadmap that will soon be circulated for consultation. The global megatrends are used to put into perspective an expected increase in the raw materials’ demand in the future. In the same way, innovation and breakthrough technologies will be key to the sector’s resource efficiency. For the IM industry’s contribution to be successful and for the sector to be a winner in this transitional period, a number of necessary measures will be highlighted in form of policy recommendations.
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COM(2008)699 Communication “The Raw Materials Initiative - Meeting our critical needs for growth and jobs in Europe”
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In view of IMA-Europe’s 20th anniversary, the drafting committee will intensify its activities to ensure the finalisation of the IM Roadmap during the first half of 2014.
Review of the Critical Raw Materials (CRM) List Over recent years, the issue of securing reliable and undistorted access to non-energy raw materials has become central. One of the actions of the Raw Materials Initiative was to identify Critical Raw Materials for the EU. The aim is to create a common European list of critical non-energy raw materials (i.e. excluding oil, gas, nuclear fuels etc.) reflecting their relative importance and supply risks to the EU. The work confided in 2009 to an ad-hoc working group supported by external consultants, was published in 2010 with a recommendation to revise the CRM list every three years. It should be noted that the analysis applies to all non-energy raw materials, not simply those experiencing high demand or immediate concerns. Therefore and as acknowledged by the Commission, IMA-Europe was an active contributor to the work and is again on board for this update which aims not only at revising, but also improving and extending on the previous analysis. The project is led by Oakdene Hollins and supported by Fraunhofer ISI and Roskill Information Services. The support of IMA-Europe experts across the membership is needed to collect and review the data required for the analysis.
Minventory - Statistical Information on EU Raw Materials Deposits National geology survey data on reserve/resources are in most cases not able to confirm the economic status of reserves by distinguishing materials for potential end markets. Additional industrial mineral geological expertise is required to refine and classify deposits accordingly. IMA-Europe has major concerns on the disclosure of company confidential information and the correct use of EU aggregated data for the purpose of Minventory which stands for “Statistical Information on Raw Materials Deposits”. “Minventory”, is a collaboration project between ten European geological bodies which seeks to create a directory of primary/ secondary raw materials in the form of reserves and resources across Europe and a harmonised data repository by 2020 under the auspices of the European Commission. The use of the data directory will be three fold: 1. Valuable tool for land-use planning; 2. Ensure future technology development
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policies and 3. Inform decision-makers regarding materials security and establish appropriate mitigation strategies. The Commission is keen to ensure broad participation, not least to ensure that the experience of the various other overlapping geological and resource initiatives is included, but also to check that the resulting directory has validity within the community of interest. The IMA-Europe secretariat attended the Stakeholder Workshop organised by the Commission on 14 May 2013 in Brussels. The experience from various geological surveys and the scope of the data collection for the EU was presented at this meeting, addressing the difficulties related to reporting under different codes. IMA-Europe, with the support of Reserves & Resources Classification Experts, is keen to contribute to the project in order to monitor its developments, guide and inform DG ENTR and the consultants with respect to industry expectations,
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(in European and third countries) are usually linked to renowned international brokerage events and involve political and business meetings. Russia, China and, in the EU, Greece were recently visited, while Israel, Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand are on the coming month’s programme. Some IMA-Europe member companies joined a Mission for Growth trip. As part of the EU Raw Materials dialogues, most of the international missions include raw materials in their focus. Therefore European industrial minerals companies are invited, through IMA-Europe, to express their interest in joining the mission as European delegates. IMA –Europe members and the Secretariat are regularly involved in the Raw Materials dialogues (EU-Russia, EU-China and EU-US-Japan). These allow for exchanges in areas of mutual interest in the fields of Enterprise & Industry policy, notably on critical raw materials assessment, resource efficiency and innovation.
IMA-Europe Invited to Launch of New Master Programme on Georesources Engineering In view of addressing the need for skilled professionals within the extractive and processing European industry a 2-year Erasmus Mundus Master Programme “Georesources Engineering Emerald” will start for the following academic year as a collaboration between three European Universities: University of Lorraine (France), University of Liège (Belgium) and Luleå University of Technology (Sweden). The master programme, aims to find the right balance between knowledge of mineral resources (geology, resource characterization, reserve estimation, modelling) and processing (communition, pre-concentration, leaching, waste disposal). the problems and limitations related to reserve and resource data collection on EU scale. Owen Herod from IMERYS is IMA-Europe’s reserve/resources expert in the Steering Committee of Minventory. IMA-Europe and some of its members directly responded to the questionnaire from Oakdene Hollins, the UK-based consultant managing the project.
Commissioner for Industry Missions for Growth and Raw Materials Dialogues Analysing that the fast growing emerging markets – which, according to estimates, will account for about 60% of world GDP by 2030 – are served by less than 10% of exporting European enterprises, DG Enterprise runs since end of 2011 “Missions for Growth”. Led by Vice-President Tajani to help European enterprises, in particular SMEs, to better profit from this huge market potential, Missions for Growth
Strategic issues such as life cycle analysis of mineral resources, urban mining potential, economic, social and environmental challenges of mining operations will be addressed within professional seminars. IMA-Europe has been invited to attend the opening ceremony that will take place on 20th of September 2013 at the Faculty of Applied Sciences at the University of Liège.
Resource Efficiency With the Resource Efficiency (RE) Roadmap, the European Commission has set up the path to change the EU’s economic model into a sustainable growth economy. It foresees increasing resource productivity and decoupling economic growth from the use of resources and their environmental impact. In order to be able to set targets and to evaluate
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and monitor the progress of the EU’s economy towards these, a number of RE indicators are being developed. The first RE indicators proposed by the Commission were subject to a public consultation in 2012. The results of this consultation show that, as IMA-Europe pointed out, the lead indicator to measure “resource productivity” as a country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) divided by its Domestic Material Consumption (DMC) is not adequate. RMC (Raw Material Consumption) instead of DMC is now being considered as an alternative. This option represents however only a slight progress, as it would also reflect imported resources.
“For IMA-Europe, RE indicators should cover the three pillars of sustainability; meaning that the functionality and performance of materials, as well as a holistic LCA approach should prevail in defining them” Being actively involved in RE discussions, IMA-Europe continues to advocate that a weight-based indicator only focuses on the decrease of the total resources use and it does not account for the right use of resources: “using less” is not necessarily “using better”. For IMA-Europe, indicators should cover the three pillars of sustainability, namely environmental footprint, economic and social aspects. For this reason, the functionality and performance of materials, as well as a holistic LCA approach should prevail. EREP (European Resource Efficiency Platform) In the past months, the EREP – the high-level stakeholder group with a mandate to provide guidance to implementing the RE Roadmap – has been working on a set of short term policy recommendations. Based on recent estimates, the EREP Action for a Resource Efficient Europe (June 2013) points out that the EU could reduce the total material requirements of its economy by 17 to 24%. In order to achieve this reduction, as well as creating jobs and growth, improving RE, measuring progress and promoting new business models, the EREP proposes a number of actions. Among these, RE indicators, non-financial reporting and a shift in taxation towards resource use are identified as key to promote and move towards a Resource Efficient economy. IMA-Europe has contributed to the BusinessEurope position paper as a response to the EREP recommendations to ensure that the views of the industrial minerals industry are included. The paper stresses the fact that industry supports a relative – not absolute – decoupling of resource use
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and its environmental impact from economic growth. In this sense, RE indicators should carefully be considered. The paper also expresses the industry’s concern about setting up a mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting and the pre-conditions that would need to be taken into account, should a shift in taxation need to occur (see below). Taxation of resources In its RE Roadmap, the European Commission already recommended MS to consider a shift in taxation away from labour. A shift towards environmental taxation – sometimes in form of taxation of resources – is increasingly being recommended as a way to boost employment and economic growth as well as a tool to help getting the prices of resources right. IMA-Europe’s contribution has been instrumental in the preparation of a NEEIP (Non-Energy Extractive Industries Panel) position paper on resource taxation that presents the NEEI views towards this tendency. The paper points out that a shift in taxation would not necessarily contribute to the ultimate goals of increasing resource productivity and reducing the environmental impact of raw materials. In addition, resource taxation could negatively affect the competitiveness of EU’s industry by increasing the overall tax burden of companies. Since the finalisation of the NEEIP position paper, IMA-Europe has been in contact with a number of key stakeholders to communicate the industrial minerals sector’s views and concerns.
Enhanced EU Business Transparency The political pressure around EU business transparency is growing as the European Union is taking a series of various new initiatives to intensify the European companies’ obliga tions around financial, social and environmental reporting. In the tough economic context, transparency is seen as an instrument leading to improved performance, healthy economic growth and sustainable employment. EU companies’ reporting on financial information In June 2013, the EU adopted the new Accounting Directive 2013/34/EU (which now repeals the two previously existing 4th and 7th Accounting Directives 78/660/EC and 83/349/ EC) which strengthens the transparency requirements for the disclosure of financial information for all listed and non-listed large companies. The revised text of the Transparency Directive (2004/109/EC should be adopted by the end of the year. Under the concept of country-by-country
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and project-by-project reporting, these revisions have introduced new provisions for large extractive companies dealing with oil, gas and minerals and loggers of primary forests to disclose full details of their payments to national governments for every project that they operate. Despite IMA-Europe’s efforts and those of all related sectors including BusinessEurope to publicly voice the burden for industry of such extended and detailed reporting legal obligations, it appeared almost impossible for any business representative to successfully react on this sensitive topic. EU companies’ reporting on non-financial information As regards the disclosure of non-financial information, the European Commission has also recently decided to deviate from its usual approach of considering Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a voluntary tool. In April 2013, the European Commission took action to introduce a legislative proposal for new mandatory requirements in the just freshly modified Accounting Directives 78/660/EC and 83/349/EC obliging large companies with more than 500 employees to report on their social and environmental information in their annual report and large listed companies with more than 250 employees to include diversity policy information in their corporate governance statement. IMA-Europe is joining the overall EU industry position on this horizontal issue and supports BusinessEurope to defend a voluntary approach to CSR, which is the core aspect of its added value for companies.
IMA Europe
Conflict minerals The European Commission is also closely considering the need for a new EU initiative to enhance due diligence and transparency on the sourcing of conflict minerals from conflict-affected and high-risk areas. Looking at existing traceability systems such as the US Dodd-Frank Act section 1502 and other international, national or sectoral schemes, the Commission launched a public consultation in March 2013 to gather views on such a considered EU initiative. In a letter to Karel de Gucht, European Commissioner for Trade, IMA-Europe expressed its concerns over the introductory wording to the public consultation which threw a black shade on the mineral industry as a whole, without any distinction. As a follow-up, IMA-Europe met DG Trade in June 2013 to discuss our members’ concerns over the consultation and present the specificities of the industrial mineral sector. Liaising with other EU trade associations, IMA-Europe also contributed to the public consultation in June 2013 to point out that industrial minerals are not concerned by the definition of “conflict minerals” as our minerals are mainly extracted and traded locally in Europe. The industrial mineral sector is further calling for a better definition of the scope of “conflict minerals” and “conflict and high risk areas”, in order to give some predictability and allow companies to understand their obligations. IMA-Europe will closely monitor the outcome of the public consultation and the next steps undertaken by the European Commission which might affect industrial mineral companies.
Explosives for Civil Use The difficulties and challenges to implement the amending Directive 2012/4/EU amending Directive 2008/43/EC setting up a system for the identification and traceability of explosives for civil uses – from its production site and its first placing on the market until its final user – resulted in new deadlines for implementation. In this sense, and in order to ensure a proper implementation by all stakeholders, a Task Force on Explosives for civil uses was created. As a member of this Task Force, IMA-Europe has contributed to the preparation of an action plan endorsed by the European Commission and Member States to address the challenges identified. A guidance document to the whole supply chain is being finalised.
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Climate Change An energy and climate framework for 2030 The debate on a new energy and climate framework for 2030 has started. This new framework builds on the experiences with the current 2020 package which aims at a 20% greenhouse gas reduction, an average EU-wide share of 20% renewables in the Union’s fuel mix, as well as a 20% increase in overall energy efficiency. Its successor, the 2030 energy and climate package will be a milestone on the road to achieving the EU ambitions for 2050 which are described in the various Roadmaps published throughout 2012. IMA-Europe has contributed to the discussion and submitted a response to the Commission’s stakeholder consultation. IMA-Europe insists that the Union’s climate and energy policy towards 2030 is fully aligned with the EU’s objective to foster industrial competitiveness. A growth strategy is therefore required to carefully balance the EU’s “green” ambitions with a genuine concern to keep industrial production in Europe. A credible GHG reduction target should take account of the economic and technical feasibility of further GHG reductions. Several sectors – including lime – have already pointed at the constraints for reducing GHG emissions. A key concern is, of course, maintaining a level playing field at international level.
Update of the carbon leakage list and Taxation of Energy Products Every five years a “carbon leakage list” is prepared by the Commission in the framework of the EU ETS. Sectors on this list receive a number of carbon allowances for free in order to mitigate the impact of the cost of buying allowances on their competitiveness. Preparations for the revision of the carbon leakage list have already started. For the lime sector in particular it is crucial to remain on the carbon leakage list because of its carbon intensity and because lime production falls within the scope of the EU ETS. Nonetheless, the other
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IMA-Europe sectors may also have an interest as the list may become the basis for granting carbon tax exemptions under the Directive on the Taxation of Energy Products. Because Member States need unanimity to take decisions in the field of taxation, the negotiations on the revision of this Directive have been dragging on for several years. It is still unsure if and when agreement will be reached. The revised Directive would introduce an additional tax for combustibles on the basis of their CO2 content. Activities that are on the “carbon leakage list”, determined according to the provisions in the EU ETS, may be granted a partial carbon tax exemption. Mineralogical sectors remain exempted from the energy taxation part in any case. In order to determine the status of each sector, IMA-Europe has analysed the available and relevant sector information, mainly EUROSTAT data. We have identified for each IMA-Europe sub-sector the risk to fall off the carbon leakage list. The new carbon leakage list should be ready by the end of 2014. IMA experts will have to decide if actions are needed.
Recalibration of the EU ETS The EU will likely achieve its GHG reduction target for 2020 despite the current low carbon price, mainly due to the economic recession. The Commission is concerned however that the current low carbon price insufficiently triggers investments in low carbon technologies. Therefore the EU executive has made several proposals to increase the carbon price, one of them being “backloading” (i.e. to postpone the auctioning of part of the allowances from the first years of the 3rd Trading Period (2013-2020) towards the end, which should increase carbon prices in the short term). IMA-Europe gained the support from the Social Partners in the Social Dialogue Committee for the Extractive Industries (SSDCEI) for its actions against backloading. In addition, the Commission announced some more structural measures that could lead to a permanent withdrawal of allowances from the EU ETS. All these developments are actively followed up by IMA and specifically by EuLA. Where needed action is taken in co-operation with other associations grouped in the Alliance of Energy Intensive Industries and under the umbrella of BusinessEurope.
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Innovation The European objectives of ‘Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive growth’ and the national growth programs can only be achieved through innovation and depend more than ever on European innovation partnerships (EIPs) and joint public-private partnerships (PPPs) that help direct innovation towards meeting societal needs along the value chain.
to strongly support the project. Seven IMA representatives were nominated by the Commission in the EIP governance bodies, including a seat in the High Level Steering Group (HLSG) (Jean-Luc Deleersnyder, Sibelco CEO), the Sherpas Group (Michelle Wyart-Remy, IMA-Europe), and the Operational Groups (OG) (Damien Grégoire, Carmeuse; Michalis Stefanakis, S&B Minerals; Pim Demecheleer and Sam Leese, Sibelco). The Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) shaping the Roadmap of the EIP RM will be endorsed in September by the HLGS. The numerous actions proposed by the OGs were selected on the basis of criteria agreed by the Sherpas which take into account their economic benefit to EU industry, including security of supply and EU industry competitiveness; their level of innovation (technology-based actions) or implementation readiness (non-technology-based actions); and sustainability. In parallel, the EU research funding programme under preparation, Horizon 2020, plans for the budgets for the technological projects to be financed. These would include Raw Materials R&D&I coordination in the EU, substitution for at least three applications of critical and scarce raw materials and up to 10 pilot actions on exploration, mining, processing and recycling for innovative production of raw materials, both from primary and secondary sources.
The European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials (EIP RM) In 2012, in line with the Raw Materials policy initiated five years ago, and the challenges identified along its development2, the Commission proposed to develop a European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials (EIP RM)3. The EIPs are part of the Innovation Union Flagship4, a European innovation programme with the two-fold objective of improving conditions and access to finance for research and innovation in Europe and ensuring that innovative ideas are turned into products and services creating growth and jobs. Therefore, the EIP RM is structured along two axes, a technological pillar and a non-technological one. A third cross-cutting pillar addresses international cooperation. Acknowledging the importance of the project for the future of the European Raw Materials policy, IMA-Europe decided
The non-technological actions should define the framework regulatory conditions for primary raw materials, focusing on the exchange of best regulatory practices between Member States, as well as the framework conditions for enhanced efficiency in materials’ use and waste prevention, the knowledge base of EU primary and secondary resources (statistical information) and skills optimisation. Aiming at a sustainable production of raw materials in the EU, these actions should now be further developed respecting the spirit of the EIP RM, i.e. demonstrating raw materials public importance and increasing public acceptance for their production in the EU, while assessing the cumulative effect of EU policies/legislation on the non-energy extractive industries (NEEI). IMA-Europe experts played an active role in shaping the SIP agenda taking particular care of balancing the interests of the various stakeholders and all steps all along the value-chain. IMA-Europe joins the Advisory Board of the 2-year FP7 project COBALT, which intends running a series of interactive
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COM(2011)25 Communication “Tackling the Challenges in Commodity Markets and on Raw Materials” COM(2012)82 Communication “Making Raw Materials available for Europe’s Future Well-being - Proposal for a European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials” 4 COM(2010) 546 Communication “Europe 2020 Flagship Initiative - Innovation Union” 3
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events to mobilise the participation of civil society, research, industry as well as national authorities to support a favourable framework for the development of the EIP on Raw Materials. The project is coordinated by the Vienna University of Economics and Business, Research Institute for Managing Sustainability, with as partners: Ecologic Institut gemeinnützige GmbH (Berlin), BIO Intelligence Service (Paris), the Luleå University of Technology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, TECNOMA SA (Madrid), National Association for Consumers’ Protection and Promotion of Programs and Strategies (Bucharest).
IMA-Europe contributions to innovation initiatives IMA-Europe supports, promotes and participates in innovation initiatives within the sector and along the entire value chain to ensure a cross sectoral response to the challenges of European industry. IMA-Europe has actively participated in EU funded projects namely the cross sectoral SPIRE and the industrial minerals focused STOICISM project and promoted best case studies from the sector in international conferences and events, such as the European Minerals Day. PPPs are expected to contribute to generating sustainable growth and put Europe back on track in the race for global competitiveness. The Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and energy efficiency (SPIRE) is one of the first innovation-driven public-private partnerships in Europe which represents the joint efforts of 8 industry sectors namely: cement; ceramics, chemical, engineering, minerals, non-ferrous metals, steel and water via 33 manufacturing companies; 30 research and technology organisations and 11 European associations. A.SPIRE was established at a signing ceremony in Brussels on 18 July 2012, and IMA-Europe is one of the founding members and holds a seat in the SPIRE Board. Beside IMA-Europe’s involvement, some IMA members are directly involved as companies. In July 2013, the Commission acknowledged SPIRE and the Roadmap jointly developed by SPIRE partners as one of the PPPs part of the Horizon 2020 research framework programme. A Brokerage Event is planned on 22 October 2013 in Brussels for setting up the partnerships and for launching the collaborative project proposals put forward by the SPIRE community. IMA-Europe has two seats at the event. The Sustainable Technologies for Calcined Industrial Minerals (STOICISM) project consists in developing sustainable and innovative solutions for minerals processing
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routes reducing the carbon footprint of several calcined industrial minerals, along the whole supply chain from the extraction, waste valorisation and optimisation of the functionality for the end users. More in particular, Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) technologies will be tested for the beneficiation, drying, and calcination of minerals, notably diatomaceous earth (DE), perlite and clay and new technologies for energy production will be evaluated. The innovation achieved through STOICISM aim at being transferred to other industrial minerals. IMA-Europe is leading the dissemination activities for this FP7 funded project which is led by IMERYS. The key deliverable from IMA-Europe is the project website: http://www.stoicism.eu/. In an age of high and volatile energy costs, realising the energy savings potential in businesses is an effective way to increase their competitiveness and to reconcile economic growth and environmental protection via the SMEs. Towards Energy Efficient Primary Mineral Extraction and Processing in Europe (ENERMIN) is a project submitted by the University of Leoben in collaboration with other consortium members (such as Universities, research and innovation institutes in EU) to the 2013 Call launched by Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE). Since the scope of the project is to increase energy efficiency and thus competitiveness within the European raw materials sector (industrial and construction minerals) with special emphasis on SMEs, IMA-Europe has provided a letter of support and will contribute as appropriate along the project. The International Conference on Sustainable Development in the Minerals Industry (SDIMI 2013) is a biannual event which contributes to defining strategies and sharing best practices on sustainability within the minerals sector and beyond. IMA-Europe contributed through a presentation entitled: “Reducing the environmental footprint in the industrial minerals sector: Case studies & Innovation”, which consisted in illustrating through case studies how IMA-Europe member companies are addressing the challenges of resource efficiency, lower carbon economy, recycling/reuse from a life cycle and value chain perspective. IMA-Europe is considered as a reliable partner in creating awareness and providing support in innovation projects and initiatives, which will shape the agenda and actions for Europe 2020 and beyond. The promotion of company case studies that illustrate where and how innovation is addressed and quantified, contributes to share the sector achievements, build potential partnerships and engage with the right actors (industry, policy, researchers)
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ENVIRONMENT Revision of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive European Fund for Industrial Accidents Ambient Air Policy and Industrial Emissions Biodiversity IMA Life Cycle Inventory (IMA LCI) Review of Waste Policy and Legislation
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Revision of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive IMA-Europe jointly with the NEEIP and BusinessEurope supports the principle of smart regulation which aims at minimising additional financial burden for the industry, shortening the timeline for completion of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), and harmonising the EIA implementation across Europe to facilitate industry compliance. Back in October 2012, the Commission released a proposal to revise the Directive on the Assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, the socalled EIA Directive (85/337/EEC). The scope of the proposal is aligned with the principles of Smart Regulation. The adoption procedure for this legislative proposal is the ordinary legislative procedure (formerly co-decision) which implies the submission of the Commission proposal to the European Parliament (EP) on the one hand, and to the Council on the other hand.
“IMA-Europe supports the principle of smart regulation, minimising financial burden, shortening the EIA timeline and harmonising EIA implementation across Europe to facilitate industry compliance.”
IMA-Europe advocates actively to both EU bodies as well as at member state level to address the concerns of our sector: • We support the ‘One-stop shop’ approach and the need for a technically competent person performing the EIA, • We oppose the mandatory screening procedure for the extractive sector; the retro-active effects of the new provisions on on-going EIAs; the mandatory use of accredited experts; and last but not least, the embedding of monitoring obligations within an EIA. The robust position developed by IMA-Europe (and supported by the NEEIP and Business Europe), the support of the Permanent Representations of Ireland and Lithuania (the latter leading the Council presidency from 1 July-31 December 2013) allowed a positive outcome at Council level. The main points identified by IMA-Europe were taken on board, and the final Council Presidency compromise text is more balanced than the original Commission proposal (COM (2012) 628). The effective exchanges between IMA-Europe and European Parliament (EP) Rapporteur Zanoni (ALDE political group) resulted in a balanced report compared to the EC proposal. However, the compromise amendments voted at the Environment Committee of 11 July, go far further than the
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Environment
IMA-Europe has committed itself to coordinate the efforts of the whole NEEIP to minimise the impact of the EIA revision on the extractive industry. A resounding ‘yes’ was given for far stricter environmental impact assessments before projects are authorised. The ENVI MEPs wish to enlarge the scope of the Directive to shale gas extraction, exploration and underground projects. They also propose to introduce stricter provisions concerning public information. At the Council meeting, the Member States expressed their fear of too much red tape from the Parliament action. Although they agreed on the need to update the Directive, concern was expressed that the proposed measures were not congruent with the objective of simplification, and rather added complexity to the implementation at MS level as well as uncertainty for industry. Oct Presidency of the Council
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BE, NEEIP
BE
NEEIP
Position Papers
Reports
Debates/Meetings
Vote
Position Papers
IMA Lobbing
Figure: The EIA revision process and lobbying actions by IMA-Europe and partners.
European Fund for Industrial Accidents IMA-Europe members and the extractive industries in Europe are operating under very complex and strict safety and environmental regulatory frameworks. The creation of a European fund sponsored by industry to cover industrial failures will likely be counter-productive for the Industry’s current best practices in terms of prevention and company investments in sustainable and safe operation practices. In this regard, IMA-Europe prepared a position paper together with the Non Energy Extractive Industry Panel (NEEIP) which calls for a careful assessment of existing legislation and existing financial obligations which are already embedded in various EU legislations.
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Over the last years, a few major accidents have occurred in Europe causing major damages to property and to the environment, such as the “red mud aluminium accident” of 4 October 2010 in Hungary. While this accident was not qualified eligible for the European Union Solidarity Fund which only covers major natural disasters, the Hungarian government realised the shortcomings of the European Liability Directive (ELD) and highlighted the need for an EU industry sponsored fund that could intervene for major industrial accidents. The main features of the fund based on the Hungarian proposal are:
Annual Report 2013
• It would be financed by a tax: proposed rate of 0.2% of the annual net sales revenues of industry operators; • Its intervention potential amounts to €4-5 billion; • It would be called upon for accidents causing environmental damages above €100 million, as companies should cover costs up to this threshold; • Immediate access (pre-financing tool); • Management of entire fund in case of no accidents, or the residual funds to possibly provide grants to operators for implementing preventing failure measures.
IMA Europe
The European Commission engaged Bio Intelligence Service (BioIS) to investigate the feasibility of creating such an EU fund and to assess whether similar funds exist worldwide. As a result, BioIS issued a background assessment paper and questionnaires for insurance companies and industry respectively. IMA-Europe’s position, which is shared by various sectors (e.g. NEEIP, Oil) and various Member States, is that the extractive and mining sectors are already under the obligation of a number of legislations which require mandatory financial security (namely Mining Waste Directive, Environmental Impact Assessment, Seveso, European Liability Directive). Imposing another mandatory financial obligation on these overregulated sectors will be burdensome. Without the assessment of risks per sector, the fund would result in disproportionate costs. The existence of this EU fund will likely be counterproductive, since it will not prevent accidents from happening, therefore focus should be in risk prevention rather than on accident management. In addition to contributing to the NEEIP position, IMA-Europe with support of its members, responded to the industry open consultation, participated in various meetings where the issue was discussed as part of the implementation of the European Liability Directive across Europe and shared its concerns with DG Enterprise representatives. As a result of the lobbying activities, the European Commission put the initiative of creating such a fund on-hold for the time being.
Ambient Air Policy and Industrial Emissions The EU’s Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution is under review and a package with (new) measures is expected by Autumn 2013. The new air package will most likely contain a proposal for a revised National Emission Ceilings Directive (NEC), which imposes economy-wide reduction targets for a number of pollutants. The Commission is also considering the introduction of specific measures for limiting the emissions from small and medium-sized combustion installations (<50MW). Some of those installations have so far been exempted from the Industrial Emissions Directive. IMA-Europe is carefully monitoring the issue. A new IMA Europe “expert list” with representatives from amongst the IMA membership was created to ensure a swift reaction from the sector as soon as a proposal is released.
more flexible IPPC framework. The new concept of “BAT Conclusions” was introduced by the Industrial Emissions Directive – the successor to the IPPC Directive. When BAT Conclusions are adopted, the emission values associated with the identified best available techniques become more binding. The Member States keep only a limited possibility to grant exemptions. IMA-Europe and EuLA challenged the practice of deriving BAT Conclusions from a document negotiated under different conditions (IPPC) and had a legal opinion prepared jointly with the other sectors concerned. This legal opinion laid a good basis for the negotiations on the BAT Conclusions as it clarified further the room for manoeuvre. The discussions came to a good end. The BAT Conclusions are now translated in the EU’s official languages and published in the Official Journal.
As IMA-Europe and EuLA had expected, the Commission wanted to adopt BAT (Best Available Techniques) Conclusions derived from the Cement, Lime and Magnesiumoxide (CLM) BREF although this BREF was negotiated under the
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IMA Europe
Environment
Biodiversity Ecosystems: Biodiversity / No Net Loss / Habitat Banking The No Net Loss (NNL) and Habitat Banking initiatives which are being developed within the EC are key to achieving the objectives of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2020. IMA-Europe and its colleagues from the NEEIP (Non-Energy Extractive Industries Panel) coordinate their efforts to provide a coherent response to the concerns that these initiatives are raising within the extractive sector.
A report entitled “Exploring potential demand for and supply of habitat banking in the EU and appropriate design elements for a habitat banking scheme”, prepared by ICF GHK in February 2013 for the European Commission, suggests that although NNL is not clearly stated in existing EU initiatives for biodiversity, requirements for compensatory measures are already in place. However, harmonised instruments to measure gains and losses are lacking. According to ICF GHK5, “each member state has implemented the EU requirements in different ways and with different ambition levels”. The report includes the key design elements of biodiversity offsets and habitat banking schemes at EU level. IMA-Europe position regarding the Biodiversity Fund Initiatives such as No net Loss, habitat banking, offsets, bio carbon allowances, etc., are part of a set of fiscal / financial instruments developed to cover the cost to meet the biodiversity targets set for 2020 within the EU. This is an emerging area, also experienced at Member State level to ensure an overall gain in biodiversity across Europe.
No Net Los (NNL) The NNL concept is defined as “the balance of conservation/ biodiversity losses in one geographically or otherwise defined area by a gain elsewhere, provided that this principle does not entail any impairment of existing biodiversity as protected by EU nature legislation”. The Commission announced an NNL initiative by 2015 to implement the principle throughout the EU. To this effect, a working group on “No Net Loss of Ecosystems and their Services” was set up to review and harmonise existing studies and practices within Member States. The NEEIP has secured a seat within the group, allowing to guarantee that orientations taken are consistent with existing initiatives and legislation, or ongoing projects, such as, for example, Natura 2000. Habitat Banking and biodiversity offsets In order to achieve “no net loss” of biodiversity within the EU, the European Commission is notably working on schemes and instruments to compensate and offset biodiversity losses. Among these, “habitat banking” enables developers to purchase credits from established compensation schemes (habitat banks) to offset their impacts.
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With rehabilitation process already being an integral part of the legal quarry development process, such initiatives could in fact be considered as an opportunity for the industrial minerals sector. However it may also lead to duplication of financial and management efforts especially in the concept of “outside-the-fence boundary” which implies that the rehabilitation process is likely to be extended outside the quarry fence. IMA-Europe argues that the extractive sector is subject to multiple legislative requirements with regard to biodiversity and ecosystems restoration, which are to be planned as soon as the request for a permit to operate is issued. IMA-Europe would rather favour initiatives that facilitate the implementation and enforcement of such rules at sector level, rather than measures to create new funds for biodiversity preservation for multiple sectors.
“IMA-Europe favours initiatives that facilitate the implementation and enforcement of rules at sector level, rather than measures to create new funds for biodiversity preservation for multiple sectors.”
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/enveco/taxation/pdf/Habitat_banking_Report.pdf
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IMA-Europe Life Cycle Inventory (IMA LCI) IMA-Europe supports the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools in a holistic approach which allows calculating the environmental footprint of a product along the value chain. IMA-Europe’s position is to carefully use the (LCA) approach for policy making initiatives in the field of resource efficiency, product sustainable consumption and eco-labeling, since aspects such as functionality, durability, economic and social impacts are not accounted for. Aligning our position and strategy with key industry players and providing coherent feedback in policy making and at fora is critical to ensure visibility, and reinforce the position of the association as a key player with policy makers and stakeholders. In the past year, IMA-Europe has raised the industrial minerals sector visibility vis-à-vis stakeholders and policy makers by participating in and contributing to different forums and policy initiatives.
Ensure Visibility for the IMA LCI IMA-Europe is one of the first Brussels based industry associations which developed European LCI data providing European average LCI data to the European Life Cycle Database (ELCD) platform which has about 440 LCI datasets. The IMA LCI covers eight industrial mineral products and is one of the 36 datasets published compliant with the entry-level requirements of the International Life Cycle Datasets (ILCD). Following the ELCD publication, two LCI information packages were prepared to facilitate internal IMA-Europe member company trainings and harmonise external communication for the sector data. The information packages consist in defining products within the scope of the IMA LCI, describe system boundaries, summarise the assumptions, and report the environmental footprint of the eight industrial minerals. This information can be accessed through the website (http://www.ima-europe.eu/eu-policy/environment/life-cycle-assessment). The communication down the value-chain is closely monitored by the IMA-Europe secretariat. The graph below is an overview of the received requests to date. LCA Practitioners
Requests by Market Concrete Association
Industrial Mineral
Consultancy
Multiple Markets
Manufacturing Company
Plastic Chemicals (Paint)
Research Steel Waste Figure: The EIA revision process and lobbying actions by IMA-Europe and partners.
Attending international meetings creates visibility for the work done so far and ensures that the LCA practitioners are aware of the industrial minerals sector data. The results from the IMA LCI were presented in two international events: • 18th LCA Symposium organised by the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) in November 2012, in Copenhagen. The SETAC event consists in presenting LCI/LCA case studies and methodology developments; • 6th International Conference on Sustainable Development in the Minerals Industry (SDIMI 2013), 30 June-2 July 2013, in Milos. The conference is a platform which defines strategies and assists to develop and share best practices on sustainability within the industrial mineral sector and beyond. In both events the IMA LCI results were of interest to various representatives from industry, research institutes, universities and database providers.
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IMA Europe
Environment
Position IMA-Europe in key fora on LCA Related Issues Acknowledging IMA-Europe long collaboration in the ELCD/ILCD project, the Commission invited IMA-Europe to give a presentation at the Advisory Group of the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment (EPLCA) which met on 1 July 2013 in Brussels. The EPLCA group defines the strategy for the development of Life Cycle Thinking and interacts with industry to ensure a coherent link to policy developments. The strategic decision to attend the meeting was twofold: First, to introduce the work done by IMA-Europe on the development of four LCI studies covering 15 products and four LCA covering four applications and secondly, to highlight the drawbacks of using LCI/LCA data for policy making purposes without addressing the limitations of the methodology which was intended for decision making at product and company level. The IMA-Europe position received the support of the participants from the steel and plastic industries. Defending the position that the LCA approach should be used, while taking account of its limitations, IMA-Europe actively contributed to the position paper which Business Europe (BE) sent to EU Environment Commissioner Janez
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Potocnik. In view of the European Commission (EC) initiatives on the Single Market for Green Products and the use of LCA results as default values, the BE position underlines that LCA is a useful and valuable instrument for industry to improve overall environmental performance but it is not suitable to be used for comparisons between complex products since it might lead to market distortion and unfair competition due to misleading consumer information. In addition to the Single Market for Green Products Communication (COM 2013/196/EU) the Commission developed a harmonised methodology (COM 2013/179/EU) for the measurement of a Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and an Organisation Environmental Footprint (OEF). The latter methodology will be tested over a three-year period (2014-2017) through dedicated pilots carried-out by industry and supervised by the Commission. Should the proposed methodology be validated after this three-year trial, the PEF & OEF methodologies will become mandatory starting from 2018. The IMA Secretariat has already responded positively to be part of the technical secretariat for the pilot â&#x20AC;&#x153;Decorative Paintsâ&#x20AC;? led by CEPE and has alerted that it is interested to support with data for other relevant projects. The European Commission will communicate the selected winning pilots in September 2013.
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IMA Europe
Review of Waste Policy and Legislation The revision of the waste targets will have a direct impact on IMA-Europe members. The IMA-Europe position is in line with the conclusions of the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials which clearly states that the “Landfill ban for recyclable waste should only concern certain waste streams like paper, wood and other recyclable materials such as glass, metals, etc., and a ban on incineration should apply to unsorted waste and to waste that may be recycled under environmentally safe, technically and economically feasible conditions. In addition, in the landfill ban discussion it must be acknowledged that the backfilling (use of overburden for site restoration) should be separated from the waste landfilling. IMA-Europe supports the principle that the gradual introduction of the landfill and incineration ban should be accompanied by fostering innovation in sorting and recycling technologies of materials and residues not recyclable today and by the implementation of the waste hierarchy.
2. An assessment of how the problem of plastic waste can best be tackled in the context of the current waste policy framework. 3. An ex-post evaluation (“fitness check”) of five of the EU Directives dealing with separate waste streams: 1. Sewage sludge (86/278/EEC); 2. PCB/PCT (96/59/EC); 3. Packaging and packaging waste (94/62/EC); 4. End of life vehicles (2000/53/EC); 5. Batteries (91/157/EEC). In view of responding to the consultation of the three waste directives launched by the European Commission in June 2013, IMA-Europe shared its position with various sectors (glass, paper, metals, plastic, and construction) to ensure an industry coherent position, and submitted its position early September.
“IMA-Europe supports the principle that the gradual introduction of the landfill and incineration ban should be accompanied by fostering innovation in sorting and recycling technologies of materials and residues not recyclable today and by the implementation of the waste hierarchy.” The revision of waste policies and respective legislations in 2014, consists in preparing legislations which are coherent, easily enforceable, up to date and in line with the Resource Efficiency Roadmap. The Commission has initiated a three step stakeholder consultation which covers three main areas: 1. Review of the European waste management targets, which implies the revision of three waste directives: • Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC): targets for the preparation for re-use and recycling of waste materials from household & construction and demolition waste; • Landfill Directive (99/31/EC): reduction targets for biodegradable waste versus landfill; • Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (94/62/ EC): differentiated recycling and recovery targets.
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Product Stewardsh覺p Respirable Crystalline Silica Accident Reduction Chemical Policy Minerals in Agriculture
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Respirable Crystalline Silica A major step was crossed in December 2012, when the European Commission’s Advisory Committee for Safety and Health (‘ACSH’) released its opinion on a possible inclusion of respirable crystalline silica (RCS) in the amendment of Directive 2004/37/EC on Carcinogens and Mutagens at the workplace. There are three important aspects in this opinion: 1. The agreed level for a European binding occupational limit value for RCS is of 0.1 mg/m3, which is the one agreed on by industry. 2. The inclusion of RCS in the Carcinogens Directive or in the Chemical Agents Directive should address process generated RCS, which has different implications than if it were the substance which was included. 3. It is recognized that there are different legal possibilities to adopt such a binding OEL namely the Chemical Agents Directive (CAD) or the Carcinogens or Mutagens Directive (CMD). From a meeting an IMA delegation had in April 2013 with the Unit in charge in the European Commission (Unit B3 – Health, Safety and Hygiene at Work - of DG Employment), it appeared that they intended to make an impact study on the revision of the Carcinogens Directive in which they would welcome contributions from industry on the RCS chapter. However, one may fear at this stage that there is little room in their work programme for analysing the impact of the other legislative option, i.e. the Chemical Agents Directive.
In August 2013, IMA-Europe and seventeen concerned industry sectors sent comments to the Commission for their impact assessment and urged them to analyse the impact of the application of the strict hierarchy of obligations resulting from the Carcinogens Directive, and to provide an estimate of the benefits the inclusion and the CMD obligations would bring, which previous impact study (SHECan report) did not do. IMA-Europe also strongly requested the Commission to consider and compare the impact of the Chemical Agents Directive option in an identical way. The impact study of the European Commission should be finalised end of 2013 and the Commission’s proposal for an amendment of Carcinogens Directive 2004/37/EC is expected in the first quarter of 2014. For a possible revision of the Chemical Agents Directive, the timetable is unknown as the Commission has not made any legislative step so far. During this crucial period, IMA-Europe will strongly pursue its efforts to demonstrate that the implementation of the Social Dialogue Agreement’s principles coupled with a Binding Limit Value in the Chemical Agents Directive in the whole European industry would provide an optimal protection to workers’ health while not imposing to industry a series of unnecessary and unfair measures which would hamper the European economy.
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Product Stewardship
Accident Reduction Workers health & safety is at the core of IMA-Europe’s concerns and activities since its creation in 1993. The association promotes risk prevention and been active in data collection on dust exposure levels for more than 10 years and, more recently, since 2011, on accidents at work statistics in the sector. The preliminary results of the first two years of safety statistics indicate that the accident performances of the industrial mineral sector are not satisfying. As there is a general consensus that that there is no higher priority for the minerals industry than the health and safety of the people it employs, the IMA Board recommended to launch an effective accidents prevention strategy starting in 2013. An aspirational target of zero injuries for the sector was agreed and is to be reached in two phases: 1) a 50% reduction in the IMA LTIFR by 2016 2) a further 50% reduction by 2020 This Target Zero Injury strategy is designed around four pillars: I. Obtain commitment The commitment from IMA-Europe companies’ top management will be obtained through the signature of official declarations which will be collected by the IMA Secretariat.
The data analysis will be refined to possibly guide interventions; The types of accidents and the HSE management policies are investigated; The data will be analysed per geographic zone. III. Exchange experiences Anonymous company safety alerts (on serious and fatal accidents) will be shared with recommendations on how to prevent them. First, inside the IMA Occupational Hygiene (OSH) WG, and then a compilation will be shared with all IMA Members. A thematic Workshop is organised in Milos (7-8 October 2013) open to all IMA Members. –– Presentations of success stories based on different types of HSE management. –– Presentations of some serious accidents and how to prevent them. IV. Organise IMA Safety Awards The IMA Occupational Hygiene Working Group recommends organising IMA Safety Awards in the future, which would reward companies showing the best improvement performances in safety.
II. Reinforce data collection The collection of the 2012 accidents statistics was launched and we aim at 100% reporting. Information campaigns will be organised through the Sections and the companies;
Nanomaterials Nanotechnology is a new approach that refers to understanding and mastering the properties of matter at the nano-scale. Nanotechnology offers innovative solutions to many current problems by means of smaller, lighter, faster and better performing materials, components and systems. This opens up new opportunities for wealth creation and employment provided that social aspects (such as public information and communication, health and environmental issues, and risk assessment) are adequately addressed to ensure a responsible development of nanotechnology
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and that it meets people’s expectations. In this context, the European legislator has the duty to provide an adequate legislative framework to boost innovation in nanotechnology while ensuring a safe handling of nanomaterials. The latter aspect was particularly followed by IMA-Europe with the objective to avoid additional restrictions for industrial minerals unless duly justified. For industrial minerals, the real story began with the adoption of a recommended definition for nanomaterials in
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October 2011 and since then, the regulatory activities on nanomaterials have grown exponentially. At EU level, discussions take place notably in the Competent Authorities Sub-Group on nanomaterials (CASG-Nano), the ECHA Nano Working Group and the ECHA Group Assessing Already Registered Nanomaterials (GAARN). Thanks to its recognized expertise and commitment, IMA-Europe has been invited to participate in all these groups together with colleagues from Cefic, Eurometaux and NIA (Nanotechnology Industry Association). Although the volume of industrial minerals in IMA-Europe’s portfolio manufactured at the nano-scale would be considered as marginal, the outcome of the discussions with the EU regulators could potentially affect industrial minerals not manufactured at the nano-scale. For instance, a strict implementation of the nanomaterials definition could potentially embrace almost all the phylosilicates (e.g. kaolin, bentonite, mica, …) which could be regarded as having particles in nano scale for 1 dimension (the individual layer of the crystalline structure). Also, industrial minerals supplied as fine powders could also fall under the definition for nanomaterials due to the unavoidable presence of unintended nanoparticles in the particle size distribution (also referred to as the ”nano-tail” issue). Beside the issues around this European Commission recommended definition, there are ongoing discussions in the context of the EU chemicals legislation to adopt a methodology to use the (eco-)toxicity
IMA Europe
data from bulk materials to its analogue materials delivered in the nanoform (i.e. the “read-across” approach). It is very likely that such a methodology will be extrapolated to other read-across justifications to use the (eco-)toxicity data between different crystalline forms. The above examples justify the resources IMA-Europe invests in these topics. The IMA Working Group on nanomaterials is dedicated to these issues and is supported by the IMA Metrology Working Group for analytical aspects. All the above considerations have fed the political debate and, in October 2012, the European Commission endorsed a Communication on the second regulatory review on nanomaterials. In essence, the Commission considers that current legislation covers in principle the potential health, safety and environmental risks in relation to nanomaterials whilst often not explicitly addressing the risk of nanomaterials. In line with these conclusions, the Commission will propose to adapt the existing ECHA Guidance documents and REACH Annexes to tackle adequately the nano aspects. The intensity of these revisions (clarification vs. additional regulatory provisions) will be subject to lively debates in the course of 2014, in particular, if we consider that the European Parliament holds the position that the Commission does not go far enough in regulating the safety of nanomaterials and that the Member States are increasingly tempted to adopt various national initiatives to keep track of the nanomaterials placed on their national market.
Chemical Policy Following the conclusions of its so-called “REACH Review” published in February 2013, the European Commission is now looking at implementing some of the adjustment measures to the REACH regulation (EC) 1907/2006 that have been identified as necessary. Indeed, although the final Report assessed that, after more than five years, the REACH Regulation overall functions well and delivers on all assessable objectives, it also recommends a number of actions. As a member of the Directors Contact Group (DCG), of the Competent Authorities for REACH and CLP (CARACAL) and of the network at REACH and CLP helpdesks (HelpNet), IMA-Europe is closely following the activities of the European Commission, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and national competent authorities that have now started reflecting on these recommendations. The required adjustments focus on amending the REACH annexes to clarify the obligations for nanomaterials substances and refining the ECHA Guidance documents to improve the quality of
the registration dossiers, put a stronger accent on the use of safety data sheets and strengthen enforcement. The industrial mineral sector is particularly active in joining in the discussions about the potential modifications to the REACH annexes and contributed to the EU public consultation on nanomaterials and the potential changes to be included in the Annexes of the REACH Regulation in September 2013. As a coordinator for six REACH Consortia for the registration of eighteen substances, IMA-Europe continued providing support and delivering Letters of Access to the co-registrants to meet the second registration deadline of May 2013. The Secretariat also coordinated the various Consortia activities, whether these concerned the submission of the 2010-registered dossiers updates or the still ongoing testing proposals currently under evaluation by the European Agency. Further to the registration phase, the evaluation of the registered substances has now started and IMA-Eu-
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Product Stewardship
rope is closely monitoring the outcome of the evaluation by Member States of substances listed on the yearly reviewed Community Rolling Action Plan. This is all the more important as some of these substances were picked up for assessment due to issues that are of interest for industrial minerals (e.g. substance characterisation, nanoparticles, toxicity of different forms of the substance). The year 2013 was also a period for the IMA-Europe sections members to make substantial communication efforts about the classification and labelling of the industrial minerals they respectively represent. Indeed, since it was made public in 2012, the ECHA Classification and Labelling inventory has been displaying various and confusingly diverging hazard classifications for almost all industrial minerals, as a result of the self-classification notification exercise by industry under the CLP Regulation (EC) 1272/2008. IMA-Europe
has actively helped its members by quickly launching several discussions on the information available and appropriate classification for industrial minerals, by using the Classification & Labelling (C&L) Platform set up in February 2013 by the European Agency as an online discussion forum for registrants and notifiers of the same substance, when multiple classifications have been notified for this substance. The Platform and its active use are expected to speed up the process of having an agreed classification and labelling for a substance. Beyond EU borders, IMA-Europe also provided its members with an overview of the worldwide implementation of the Global Harmonisation System (GHS) in June 2013.
Minerals in Agriculture Liming materials (e.g. calcium carbonate or lime) reduce soil acidity and, in doing so, can also provide the nutrients magnesium or calcium or both. In absence of EU legislation for liming materials, their manufacturers face a diversity of national rules leading to a distortion of the internal market. As a response to this identified issue, liming materials have been successfully included within the scope of the fertilizers regulation which now provides clear and EU-wide specifications for these products. This new regulation –Regulation (EU) 463/2013 of 17 May 2013– will overrule national legislations and provide a level playing field for liming materials suppliers in the internal EU market. In accordance with the so-called “New Approach”, the regulation makes references to mandatory standards for the methods of analysis of liming materials that were developed by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN/TC 260). The legislation will enter into force on 7 June 2014 to ensure that producers of liming materials are given time to adapt to the new EN Standards. In coordination with other industry stakeholders, the experts of the newly established IMA Agriculture Working Group have been instrumental all along the legislative process in providing relevant and robust inputs to the Commission and Member States. Company experts have also been actively involved in the development of the methods of sampling and analysis standards.
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In parallel, IMA-Europe’s experts have actively participated in the preparatory activities aimed at revamping the EU fertilizers regulation. The revised regulation would notably extend its scope to soil improvers and growing media where minerals are used. The Commission draft Proposal is expected by the end of 2013.
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COMMUNICATION European Minerals Day 2013 – A New Dimension Within the framework of the stepped up EU Debate on Raw Materials, and the launch of the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials (EIP RM) - the European Minerals day is more than ever a welcome and timely communication platform for raising awareness on the essential role of mineral raw materials for a sustainable and competitive Europe. The European Commission has specifically chosen this sector led initiative as the principal communication channel on the EIP on RM, resulting as such in six sectors – among which newcomers - to partner up for the 2013 edition (cement, salt, mines, metals, research platforms, geological surveys, and with the support of the ceramics industries a.o.). The EMD is indeed truly unique: mobilising key stakeholders at all levels (EU, national and local) while informing the public on the role of mineral raw materials in the European economy, hopefully leading to more informed decisions and a greater public acceptance. Let’s look at the outcome. On 24-26 May, 113 sites in 24 countries took part in the 4th edition of the European Minerals Day, organising more than 170 Open Days and school projects with the aim to enhancing public understanding and acceptance of mineral extraction and processing. More than 15,000 visitors came to explore the world of minerals around the key themes of resource efficiency, innovation, biodiversity and regional development. (Details on www.mineralsday.eu)
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IMA-Europe again successfully led the coordination and organisation of the European Minerals Day. The key theme evolved this year on raising awareness on how the mineral raw materials sector contributes to resource efficiency and innovation throughout the entire value chain. One of the key objectives at EU level was to create an exhibition in the Parliament with the EMD partners, which could illustrate the mineral life cycle from exploration, extraction, processing, to downstream uses and recycling. This was achieved thanks to the active support of 5 Members of European Parliament (MEPs Rübig, Prof. Panayotov, Leinen, Helmer and Szymanski); and to some other parallel events on raw materials which were directly linked to the EMD or hosted especially for it, such as: • 6-8 May 2013: a very successful exhibition in the European Parliament in Brussels welcomed 150 stakeholders at the launch ceremony and reached an overall visibility of 2000 people thanks to its very central location. • On 13 May, the EMD Partners welcomed EIP RM stakeholders at a high level EP dinner hosted by MEP Paul Rübig, and with the support from the European Commission. The event allowed for a highly interesting debate among Commission officials, industry CEOs, members of the EIP RM HLSG, NGO and union representatives and the five MEPs - Paul Rübig, Jo Leinen, Vlado Panayotov, Sean Kelly and Vittorio Prodi.
• The 15 May EP Business & Raw Materials Group chaired by Paul Rübig MEP was linked to the EMD 2013. JeanLuc Deleersnyder (CEO Sibelco) represented the mineral raw materials sector, as well as at an EP Business & Raw Materials breakfast on 18 June. • On 24 May, in the presence of European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani, the European Minerals Day 4th edition local events were officially launched, at the European Minerals Day Launch Event in Vipiteno, Italy, where the Vice-President visited the Omya modern calcium carbonate mining operations and gave the Opening Speech. In the run up to the events, the European Commission provided two video messages, one by Vice-President Tajani on the EIP RM, and the other one by Environment Commission-
er Potocnik on Resource Efficiency. These are published on www.mineralsday.eu. In addition, IMA-Europe put several EMD branded tools and templates at the disposal of the participants, adding this year a Facebook page. With its increased recognition and support by a growing number of stakeholders, the European Minerals Day initiative has grown in importance and visibility. It helps the mineral raw materials sector at large to position itself as a key contributor to biodiversity, resource efficiency and innovation; all elements being essential for meeting the EU Horizon 2020 agenda on sustainable growth. IMA-Europe hereby wishes to thank the members, partners and supporters for their strong backing to the EMD since its launch in 2007. The continuity and created synergy are the real success factors of this pan-European awareness raising project!
Other 2013 Communication Achievements In January, IMA-Europe launched its new website, which has become a more efficient tool to communicate on policy related issues with all our stakeholders, while providing an efficient and attractive chapter on IMA Membership and on the awareness on industrial minerals. (www.ima-europe.eu)
Technologies for Calcined Industrial Minerals in Europe. (www.stoicism.eu) Some Awareness campaign tools have been revamped and printed, such as the IMA Ads illustrating the role of industrial minerals in daily life (see Image Library on IMA Website).
In June, IMA-Europe launched the STOICISM website in its capacity of exploitation and dissemination partner in this Imerys led FP7 innovative research project for Sustainable
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Industrial Affairs
IMA-EUROPE STRUCTURE
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Notes
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Notes
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Industrial Affairs
Publisher IMA-Europe AISBL Twin Gardens 26, rue des Deux Eglises (6째 floor) B-1000 Brussels Belgium Phone +32 (0)2 210 44 10 Fax +32 (0)2 210 44 29 secretariat@ima-europe.eu www.ima-europe.eu
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AISBL Industrial Minerals Association Europe aisbl, in short “IMA-Europe” Established under the Belgian law under the enterprise / VAT number BE 0452.946.151 Twin Gardens, 26, rue des Deux Eglises (6° floor), B-1000 Brussels, Belgium Tel: 32 (0)2 210 44 10 Fax: 32 (0)2 210 44 29 E-mail: secretariat@ima-europe.eu