The EU is a union of states that cooperate to achieve economic and social benefits, and one of the tenets of this joint action is the implementation of laws and regulations that must be followed by all member-states. Recently, the EU’s government introduced the Air Pollution Policies Package, which targets the problem of pollution and environmental awareness. This paper will summarize this policy and discuss its four benefits and four downsides. Considering the benefits and the harms of the EU’s Clean Air Policy, one can conclude that the benefits for the stakeholders outweigh its harms.
The Clean Air Policy Package includes two stages of implementation; under the first one, the member states must reduce the air pollution levels by 2020 and further improve the quality of air by 2030 (European Environmental Agency, 2021). Hence, the first benefit for the member-states is that they have sufficient time to prepare regional laws, policies, and enforcement practices to ensure that businesses and other institutions reduce their emissions and air pollution rates. Thus, this policy’s first benefit is that state legislators who will be responsible for the implementation of this policy have sufficient time to enforce it in a step-by-step manner.
Another obvious benefit of this policy is that the uniform implementation of legislation that requires citizens and businesses to reduce the emissions of their vehicles or machines, which will affect the air quality of all states. The majority of the EU members are located in close proximity to one another, and therefore, the environmental issues in one country affect the quality of air and, therefore, the quality of life of the citizens in another. Hence, the uniform agreement allows addressing the problem that otherwise would be difficult to resolve since the countries that border one another will all make an effort to reduce the pollution levels. Therefore, the second benefit concerns the citizens of the EU member states, who are the primary stakeholders for this union.
The third benefit of this policy is linked to the businesses, primarily car manufacturers. One of the requirements of the Clean Air Policy is the elimination of outdated engines that eliminate large quantities of CO2 (European Environmental Agency, 2021). Notably, there are several local car manufacturing companies located in the EU. The policy’s requirements will prompt the citizens and businesses to purchase new cars, the emissions of which will align with the new standard. Therefore, although indirectly, this policy will benefit the local car manufacturers since they will be able to sell more vehicles.
The final benefit of this policy is the indirect impact on the innovation of the businesses. Although the primary target of this legislation is pollution and emission levels, it will also affect the way the local businesses operate because the management will have to invest in new equipment that will be less harmful to the environment. Therefore, these businesses will be forced to become more innovative and environmentally conscious, which should benefit them in the long term.
However, the obvious disadvantage of this policy is that the EU unifies states with different levels of economic development, which means that some may struggle economically when attempting to address the requirements of this regulation. For example, when comparing the level of economic development of Poland and Germany, one may note that businesses in the latter may find it easier to purchase machinery that does not emit pollution, which may not be the case for the firms in Poland. This downside primarily concerns businesses that will be forced to update their machinery and purchase new equipment that is less harmful to the environment when compared to the one they have used.
Another issue with this policy is that the citizens with low income will no longer have access to transportation via cars because the ones available on the market will be newer and therefore more expensive. This may affect the day-to-day life of these individuals because they will have to adjust the way they commute to work or other activities. Therefore, this policy creates an economic disadvantage for the citizens of the EU member states. Next, the third harm of this policy is that it does not offer flexibility for states or businesses that would need more time to adjust to the new requirements. Similar to the first harm, this issue concerns the difference in the level of economic development that exists among the EU member-states.
This policy does not consider this issue or the fact that in some less developed countries, the businesses use old equipment, while in developed states, they might have already updated their machinery. Finally, the last harm is that this policy does not offer financial support to the businesses and only puts forward requirements, which means that the local companies will have to invest in these updates on their own. In summary, this paper discusses the benefits and harms of the EU’s Clean Air Policy. The potential benefit from implementing this solution significantly outweighs the harms from it.
Reference
European Environmental Agency. (2021). Policy context. Web.