Events

On 8 June May 2010, the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation, with the support of the European Commission (DG Environment), organised a full-day seminar on "Environmental Quality Control", with speakers from Eurasia Environmental Technologies, the EU Commission and the European Parliament.

In the context of climate change, the need to approach the phenomenon through international coordination is nowadays broadly accepted, at least in the OECD countries. As a consequence, it is also gradually understood that greenhouse gas emission is only one part of a broader environmental situation that we have to tackle now, in order to avoid severe consequences. In the longer term those consequences impact our daily lives, in particular health and food supply.

Starting with an overview of how Europe and Japan are currently developing regulatory pressures, the seminar focused on how corporations may enjoy growth opportunities arising from a series of new constraints related to environmental issues in order to create and develop a solid socio-economic added value for the longer term.

There was a generally-shared view that the methodology needs to be rigorous and based on quantitative environmental indicators (GHG, toxic waste, water pollution, for example) in order to be disconnected from short-term trends. In particular, these indicators need to be concrete, defined internationally and with transparency, in order to constitute the foundations for an Environmental Quality Control (EQC) approach, with the aim of evaluating and improving corporate environmental policy.

The audience gathered about 20 participants from EU and Japanese Authorities and companies.