Flanders has a well-developed environmental and energy policy leading the way in Europe in numerous fields. It is a source of inspiration for other regions/countries and the European Commission. Based on policy knowledge - at arm’s length from environmental administrations as well as industry - over the years VITO has developed into a prominent player at European level as far as support for environmental and energy policy is concerned.
A number of consultancy assignments have been carried out for the European Commission (DG Environment, DG Transport and Energy), focused on the preparation of new legislation or the review of existing legislation.
Here are a few recent examples.
- Concerning IPPC (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control):
see The IPPC directive
- Data gathering and impact assessment for a possible review of the IPPC Directive – Part 1;
- Data gathering and impact assessment for a possible review of the IPPC Directive related to waste activities;
- Assessment of the use of general binding rules for the implementation of the IPPC Directive;
- Assessment of the benefits and costs of the potential application of the IPPC Directive (EC/96/61) to industrial combustion installations with 20-50 MW rated thermal input
- Environmental/economic themes:
see Environmental Economics
- Ex-ante versus ex-post estimates of costs to business of EU environmental legislation;
- Cost benefit analysis on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive including a specific focus on agriculture;
- Sectoral costs of environmental policy.
- Other:
- Service contract to assess and improve methodologies used for GHG projections;
- Gather, process and summarise information for the review of the Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive (2002/96/EC);
- Ranking of indoor air health problems using health impact assessment.
Furthermore VITO offers support in the drawing up of environmental and energy policy in other countries and regions. This has led to projects being carried out for environmental administrations in the Basque region (ES), Haifa (Israel), Slovenia…
