Commissioner Bjerregaard meets with Californian Secretary for the Environment
Mrs. Ritt Bjerregaard, European Commissioner for the environment, recently met with the Secretary of the Californian Environmental Protection Agency, Mr. James Stock, in order to discuss issues related to the control of air-pollution and other priority issues on the Commission's work programme for this year. Following the meeting Mrs. Bjerregaard noted that "California has some practical answers to the air-pollution problems we have to address in Europe". In the European Union, the recent Communication to the Council on CO2 from cars, and the forthcoming Communication on the auto-oil programme on lighter emission-standards for cars and on fuels are signalling a new approach to traffic-related air-pollution problems in Europe. This approach includes the use of both regulatory and non-regulatory policy instruments, such as economic incentives and agreements with industry. Similar approaches are also used in California, which for more than a decade has been in the lead internationally in tackling traffic-related air-pollution problems. However, greater emphasis has been placed on pushing for the development of new and cleaner technology and Mr. Stock confirmed California's continuing commitment to the goal of introducing the zero-emission vehicle within the next decade. The Californian zero-emission vehicle project is largely similar to the work being carried out within the framework of the Commission's Task Force on the "Car of the future". In this context, Commissioner Bjerregaard commented on the example set by the Californian "CALSTART" project, comprizing more than one hundred small and medium-sized industries, which aims at putting the new environmental technologies for low- or no-emission vehicles into commercial practice. The Commissioner also stated the view that EU-US cooperation in the environmental field, presently focused almost exclusively on ensuring convergence at the level of legislation and administration on the two sides of the Atlantic, should be extended to include increased cooperation between business communities and NGOs.
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