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The reference document for the Car Manufacturing sector

Car ManufacturingThe European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) is developing a sectoral reference document on best environmental management practice in the car manufacturing sector.

This activity is part of the JRC work on identification of best environmental management practice and development of EMAS Sectoral Reference Documents for different sectors.

Within the whole value chain of passenger cars, the document focuses on two main phases: 1 – manufacturing processes and facilities (stamping, assembly etc.) carried out both by car manufacturers and along the supply chain and 2 - techniques related to the handling of end-of-life vehicles.

The document identifies the main environmental issues and describe best environmental management practices that car makers, suppliers and end-of-life vehicles treatment facilities can implement to reduce their environmental impact, while avoiding overlaps with applicable legislation in this area, such as reference documents under the Industrial Emissions Directive or the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive.

Work plan

 
  • A background report to support the development of the sectoral reference document (SRD) was produced by consultancy Ricardo AEA (UK) in 2014.
  • Meanwhile, the JRC established a Technical Working Group (TWG) comprising experts in environmental management in the car manufacturing sector to gather and review information and to validate the best environmental management practices, environmental performance indicators and benchmarks of excellence. The kick-off meeting of the TWG took place in Brussels in October 2014. Preliminary findings from the Ricardo-AEA study were presented to the TWG as a basis for discussion and feedback.
  • A second meeting of the Technical Working Group, focusing on car manufacturing processes and facilities, took place in Brussels on 29th September 2015.
  • Based on the two meetings as well as the inputs and feedback provided by TWG members after the meetings, the JRC produced a draft best practice report.
  • The final meeting of the Technical Working Group was held on 21-22 June 2016 in Seville.
  • Based on the outcome of the final meeting and on further comments and inputs received from the Technical Working Group, the JRC produced the final best practice report.
  • On the basis of the best practice report, the European Commission developed and adopted the related EMAS sectoral reference document on best environmental management practice for the car manufacturing sector.

     N.B. the timeline of the above workplan was extended compared to the one initially envisaged at the TWG kick-off meeting, in order to better accommodate feedback from stakeholders.

Project Team and Contacts

The following people are part of the JRC EMAS team:

  • Paolo Canfora
  • Marco Dri
  • Ioannis Antonopoulos
  • Pierre Gaudillat

If you have any question on the work carried out in this area or if you would like to contribute to the identification of best environmental management practices, please feel free to contact us. The best way to do so is sending an e-mail to JRC-EMAS-SRD@ec.europa.eu

Documents

2019
2017
2016
2015
2014