General presentation
At its 33th session in December 2014, the Executive Body (EB decision 2014/2) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE) Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP) approved the upgrade of the Expert Group on Techno-Economic Issues (EGTEI) to Task Force on Techno-Economic Issues, TFTEI (see the mandate below) and merge the discontinued Task Force on Heavy Metals and the Task Force on POPs in TFTEI. The establishment of the former Expert Group on Techno-Economic Issues (EGTEI) was decided by EB, in December 2001, as a follow up of the proposal from the French Ministry for an Ecological and Solidary Transition.
The Task Force reports to the Working Group on Strategies and Review (WGSR), at the WGSR annual meetings.
TFTEI is led by France and Italy, who share the responsibility of the leadership of the work. Italy took the co-chairmanship in 2006, upon invitation by France.
TFTEI is Co-Chaired by Jean-Guy Bartaire (President of CITEPA) and Tiziano Pignatelli (ENEA - Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development).
The Interprofessional Technical Centre for Studies on Atmospheric Pollution (CITEPA) and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) / French-German Institute for Environmental Research (DFIU) are in charge of administrative duties and, most of all, act as Technical Secretariat of TFTEI in association with the French Agency for Environment and Energy Management (ADEME). Since 2012, the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt – UBA) also joined TFTEI. The activities are carried out also in cooperation with the experts appointed by the Parties to the Convention and the stakeholders from Industry, pursuing the ultimate objective of the implementation of the Convention, as detailed in the workplan of the Convention.
Many TFTEI activities are funded by France and Italy. Other Parties to the Convention (e.g. Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, the European Commission) are also financing specific ad hoc activities according to the Task Force work plan priorities.
Several CLRTAP Parties have nominated their national experts in TFTEI, such as: Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Sweden, Switzerland.
The active involvement of the European Industry, with the aim of establishing a positive and constructive dialogue between industry and administrations of the EU Countries, on economic and technical issues is another priority interest of TFTEI.
Data collected and/or developed by TFTEI are available for use to the Parties to the Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution, and other technical bodies of the Convention, like, i.e. the Centre for Integrated Assessment Modeling (CIAM) operated by IIASA, as TFTEI data are used as source of input in the GAINS_Europe Model, in the framework of UNECE / LRTAP. Also, the EIPPC Bureau of European Commission´s Joint Research Centre for BREF, are often using the outcome of the work of TFTEI.
TFTEI has established a stable and close collaboration with Russian Federation (through the Scientific Research Institute for Atmospheric Air Protection [SRI]) as leading country of the Coordinating Group for EECCA Countries (Armenia, Azerbaïdjan, Belarus, Russian federation, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Moldova, Ouzbekistan, Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine) and the bureau of best available techniques of « Research Institute : Environmental Industrial Policy Center » with the ultimate objective of facilitating the ratification of the LRTAP Protocols through the dissemination of scientific knowledge, methodologies and analysis tools, in those countries.
Since 2010, when, at the annual meeting of the Task Force (EGTEI at that time), the experts of the Russian Federation attended the meeting for the first time, in the plenary meetings of the Task Force, English and Russian Languages are used.
Mandate of TFTEI
According to EB decision 2014/2, the mandate of TFTEI is as follows:
The Executive Body,
Taking into account the strategic priorities set out in the Long-term Strategy for the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (ECE/EB.AIR/106/Add.1, decision 2010/18, annex),
Recalling its request to the Working Group on Strategies and Review in paragraph 1 of its decision 2013/22 to propose an update to the mandate of the Expert Group on Techno-economic Issues to establish a task force to address emission abatement technologies for stationary and mobile sources in relation to atmospheric emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate matter (PM), including black carbon, heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs),
Also recalling its decision in paragraph 3 of decision 2013/22 to discontinue the Task Force on Persistent Organic Pollutants, while recognizing that any further work should be organized under ad hoc groups when the need arises or under the new Task Force on Techno-economic Issues,
Further recalling its decision in paragraph 4 of its decision 2013/22 concerning future work on heavy metals, and in particular the recommendation of the Working Group on Strategies and Review that future work as of 2015 on abatement technologies for reducing emissions of heavy metals be addressed under the new Task Force on Techno-economic Issues,
Acknowledging that the two lead countries, France and Italy, will continue to provide the co-chairs for the work on techno-economic issues and to support the technical secretariat functions carried out by the Interprofessional Technical Centre for Studies on Air Pollution and the French-German Institute for Environmental Research,
Decides to upgrade the Expert Group on Techno-economic Issues to the Task Force on Techno-economic Issues with the mandate as set out in the annex to this decision.
Annex : Mandate for the Task Force on Techno-economic Issues
The new Task Force on Techno-economic Issues, drawing on the expertise of the former Expert Group on Techno-economic Issues and other expertise as appropriate, shall perform the following tasks in addressing emission abatement technologies for stationary and mobile sources and other tasks requested by the Executive Body for the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution or by the Working Group on Strategies and Review, assuming that adequate financial and human resources are available:
(a) Update and assess on a regular basis the information on emission abatement technologies for the reduction of the atmospheric emissions of SO2, NOx, VOCs, dust (including PM10, PM2.5 and black carbon), heavy metals and POPs from stationary and mobile sources, including on the costs of these technologies;
(b) Create and maintain a regional clearing house of control technology information for emissions of SO2, NOx, VOCs, dust (including PM10, PM2.5 and black carbon), heavy metals and POPs with the aim of being a reference place for dissemination of information to the experts of the Parties;
(c) Cooperate with the other technical bodies of the Convention — in particular the Task Force on Emission Inventories and Projections and the Task Force on Integrated Assessment Modelling — to create synergies, maximize results and optimize resources when performing its tasks;
(d) Cooperate with technical bodies outside the Convention as needed;
(e) Cooperate with the Coordinating Group on the promotion of actions towards implementation of the Convention in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia with the purpose of providing techno-scientific assistance to those countries;
(f) Organize seminars and workshops for the dissemination and promotion of information on abatement technologies, like the guidance documents on best available techniques and technical annexes to the protocols to the Convention;
(g) Provide assistance to the Implementation Committee if it so requests;
(h) Report on the progress in its work to the Working Group on Strategies and Review.
Links with BREF documents
The work undertaken by EGTEI/TFTEI is complementary to the work carried out by the EIPPC Bureau of European Commission´s Joint Research Centre, located in Seville, to draft the BAT Reference (BREF) documents, in the framework of the implementation of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).
The BREFs contains the Best Available Techniques (BATs) on different environmental issues covered by the IED (air, water, waste and energy). BATs are described in details and accurately assessed in technical terms by EIPPCB in association with Member States and industry.
Data, as well as, complementary information elaborated by TFTEI can be used in BREFs.
