n 2018, the European Commis-

sion published its action plan on

nancing sustainable growth. It

set a strategy to attract investment in

sustainable activities, including

through the creation of a European

framework evaluating the sustain-

ability of various economic activi-

ties. Such a framework is known as a

‘taxonomy’.

On June 22, 2020, the Regulation

on the establishment of a framework

to facilitate sustainable investment

was published in the EU Ofcial

Journal. This regulation creates the

EU taxonomy, basing its sustainabil-

ity assessment on six objectives:

1. Climate change mitigation

2. Climate change adaptation

3. The sustainable use and protection

of water and marine resources

4. The transition to a circular

economy

5. Pollution prevention and control

6. The protection and restoration of

biodiversity and ecosystems.

To be labelled as sustainable, an

activity should substantially contrib-

ute to at least one of these objectives,

without doing signicant harm to

any of the ve others (“Do No Sig-

nicant Harm” principle, DNSH).

The activity also needs to full

technical screening criteria that are

developed by the Platform on Sus-

tainable Finance – an expert group

composed of representatives from

the nancial sector, various indus-

tries, and NGOs – and adopted in

delegated acts. Without these dele-

gated acts, the framework is an emp-

ty shell: to assess the sustainability

of their portfolios, investors and

companies need to assess the activi-

ties they nance, insure or conduct

against the technical criteria pub-

lished in the delegated acts.

A rst delegated act, covering the

two climate objectives and encom-

passing around 70 activities, was

published in the Ofcial Journal of

the EU on 9th December 2021. A

draft complementary delegated act

covering gas and nuclear energy was

scheduled for December 22, 2021,

and a delegated act covering objec-

tives 3 to 6 is expected in 2022.

But waste management is one

piece missing in the taxonomy. The

waste management sector can con-

tribute to at least three of these ob-

jectives (climate change mitigation,

circular economy and pollution pre-

vention) and has therefore been par-

tially covered by the rst delegated

act and by the rst draft of activities

proposed by the Platform for the sec-

ond delegated act.

The rst delegated act acknowl-

edges the contributions to climate

change mitigation that can be

achieved in the higher steps of the

waste hierarchy: material recovery

of non-hazardous waste, anaerobic

digestion of biowaste, composting.

At the lower end of the hierarchy, it

recognises the positive contribution

of landll gas capture in closed land-

lls. As for the activities to be cov-

ered in the next delegated act, the

Platform proposed to note the contri-

bution of material recovery (both

non-hazardous and hazardous waste)

and of phosphorus recovery from

sewage sludge to the transition to the

circular economy, and of hazardous

waste treatment to pollution preven-

tion and control. The lower end of

the waste hierarchy was also cov-

ered, with the inclusion of the reme-

diation of legally non-conforming

landlls and abandoned or illegal

dumps as contributing to pollution

prevention and control.

So far, the work accomplished on

the taxonomy has however over-

looked a cornerstone of sustainable

waste management: dealing with re-

sidual waste, the waste that despite

all efforts cannot be prevented, re-

used or recycled. Large disparities in

waste management systems still ex-

ist between EU Member States:

while some Member States like Ger-

many recycle 67 per cent of their

municipal waste and landll virtual-

ly none of it, others like Romania

landll 76 per cent and recycle 11

per cent of their municipal waste. In

2019 in Spain, 12 million tonnes of

municipal waste were landlled.

The EU’s best performers in waste

management combine a high level of

recycling with an appropriate level

of waste-to-energy (WtE) so that

non-sorted waste and residues from

sorting and recycling processes can

be safely treated and their energy re-

covered. In order to reach the 2035

targets of minimum 65 per cent recy-

cling and maximum 10 per cent

landlling of municipal waste, many

Member States that still rely heavily

on landlls will need investments in

all of the other levels of the waste hi-

erarchy. The taxonomy would be an

ideal framework to provide investors

and public authorities with clear cri-

teria for sustainable residual waste

treatment activities. The move to-

wards more high quality recycling is

also leading to an increase in residu-

al, non-recyclable waste streams.

This waste must be treated in dedi-

cated installations, to avoid waste

transports to third countries where

environmentally sound management

is not guaranteed. This is the role of

waste-to-energy.

As acknowledged in the European

Commission’s Communication on

the role of Waste-to-Energy in the

Circular Economy, the WtE sector is

a key element of an integrated waste

management system and fully be-

longs in a circular economy as it

treats residual, non-recyclable waste.

It is therefore disappointing that nei-

ther the Commission nor the Plat-

form on Sustainable Finance have

proposed any guidance for the treat-

ment of the unrecyclable residual

waste to the countries that will need

to develop this aspect of their waste

management system.

The legal feasibility of including

WtE activities in the taxonomy has

been demonstrated by a legal analy-

sis from PwC (provided technical

criteria are developed and adopted).

In practice, the sector contributes to

the three objectives highlighted ear-

lier (1, 4 and 5).

With regard to climate change miti-

gation, WtE substitutes fossil fuel by

producing energy from non-recycla-

ble waste which would otherwise

have been landlled (emitting cli-

mate potent methane). As a signi-

cant part of the waste treated is bio-

genic, around half of the energy

produced is renewable. The combus-

tion process also allows the recovery

of metals embedded in the waste,

which leads to further greenhouse

gas emission savings. The mineral

part of bottom ash can be recovered

and used as aggregates, leading to

further emission savings.

Waste-to-Energy also helps to en-

able the transition to a circular econ-

omy, by treating non-recyclable

waste in the most sustainable way

possible, in line with the waste hier-

archy and best available techniques.

High-quality recycling can only be

achieved if there is an outlet for re-

jects from sorting and recycling fa-

cilities. This has been highlighted by

the recycling industry.

While the Platform proposal in-

cludes treatment of hazardous waste

for pollution prevention, there are

also contaminated wastes that are not

classied as hazardous but still need

thermal treatment to destroy the pol-

lutants and pathogens (e.g. POP-con-

taining wastes, some healthcare

waste). For these wastes, WtE plants

contribute to pollution prevention

and control: they allow the material

cycle to remain free of pollutants.

To be included in the taxonomy, an

activity must do no signicant harm.

With regards to WtE, this means that

installations are planned, designed

and operated so that they are in line

with the waste hierarchy, hence con-

sidering waste prevention and recy-

cling efforts. The Taxonomy Regula-

tion (Art. 17(1)(d)(i)) indicates that

an activity is signicantly harmful to

the transition to a circular economy

if this activity leads to a “signicant

increase in the generation, incinera-

tion or disposal of waste”. The Reg-

ulation does not dene further what

a “signicant increase” means and

on which level this should be inter-

preted (local, national, European).

As for additional capacities, the

WtE sector explicitly stated that new

investments should only happen in

well justied cases, in line with local

and national waste management

plans taking into account the EU

waste targets and potential waste

prevention and recycling measures.

The ongoing discussions on taxon-

omy are an ideal opportunity to de-

velop guidelines for the treatment of

non-recyclable waste in the most

sustainable way possible, in line

with the waste hierarchy and best

available techniques, while ensuring

that proper safeguards are in place.

Missing this opportunity will delay

investments in WtE when they are

needed, which will lead to incom-

plete waste management systems.

Many countries will lack outlets for

the rejects from their sorting and re-

cycling facilities and rely instead on

treatments lower in the hierarchy, or

send non-recyclable waste to regions

with lower environmental standards.

This will hamper the achievement of

the European waste management tar-

gets and, more importantly, be detri-

mental for both the circular economy

and the environment.

This is why CEWEP, together with

European associations representing

the whole waste management value

chain, calls on the European Com-

mission and the Platform on sustain-

able nance to develop technical

screening criteria for the inclusion of

WtE in the taxonomy.

Dr. Ella Stengler, is the Managing

Director at the Confederation of Eu-

ropean Waste-to-Energy Plants (CE-

WEP); Maxime Pernal is Policy Of-

cer, CEWEP.

The waste

management sector

can contribute to at

least three of the

six objectives of

the EU taxonomy

but the current

plan overlooks

a cornerstone of

sustainable waste

management:

dealing with residual

waste. Waste-to-

energy has a vital

role to play here,

say CEWEP’s

(Confederation of

European Waste-to-

Energy Plants)

Dr. Ella Stengler

and Maxime Pernal.

Waste-to-energy: the missing

piece of the taxonomy puzzle

THE ENERGY INDUSTRY TIMES - JANUARY 2022

Industry Perspective

Pernal: the WtE sector is a key

element of an integrated waste

management system and fully

belongs in a circular economy

Dr Stengler: So far, the work accomplished on the taxonomy has

overlooked a cornerstone of sustainable waste management