Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-04-02-Speech-4-019"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20090402.6.4-019"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, first of all, I would like to thank the rapporteur and the shadow rapporteur for their constructive cooperation. I think we have achieved a very good result. Last autumn, the World Wide Fund for Nature published a report revealing that, if we continue to use the Earth’s resources as we are doing right now, by the mid 2030s we will need two planets. The simple fact of the matter is that we use too much on our planet. We use resources quicker than they are able to replenish themselves. This has to change if we want to prevent an environmental crisis. The way that we use the resources has to change, and it is not only the politicians who have a responsibility here; producers and consumers do, too.
The Ecolabel that is currently being revised is a tool intended to encourage the production and sale of goods produced in a sustainable manner. One of the weaknesses of the label is that consumers are not very aware of it – and in this regard I agree with Mr Wijkman – and therefore it is not particularly attractive to producers either. If producers cannot use the label to market a good product, why would they then attempt to produce the most sustainable product within a particular product group? This is also one of the problems we have tried to rectify with our new ideas. There is now a clear requirement for Member States and the Commission to produce an action plan to promote awareness of the Ecolabel through various campaigns.
We have had a long discussion about foodstuffs and I think that we have arrived at a sensible solution. The Commission’s proposal to consider only processed foods and only transport, packaging and processing is not the end of the matter. Instead, we have asked for a detailed examination of how we can best include foodstuffs in the ecolabelling scheme so as to ensure that we have done everything correctly from the outset and do not cause confusion with other forms of ecological labelling.
Finally, I would like to point out that the label now also benefits goods produced to last a long time and goods that can be re-used. In other words, we need to change the way we produce and consume goods if we want our economies to be sustainable. It requires us to look at the whole of a product’s lifecycle, so that we can improve the way raw materials are treated during the production of a product and, in particular, the way we dispose of a product after use. I hope that the tool that we have improved here will be a good one for promoting a more sustainable planet."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples