Industrial Emissions

The Industrial Emission Directive (IED) is the main EU instrument regulating pollutant emissions from industrial installations. It was adopted in 2010 recasting previous directives, notably the IPPC Directive.  It covers around 50,000 installations carrying out the industrial activities listed in Annex I, including production of lime.

The IED aims to reduce harmful industrial emissions by requesting members states to issue permits in accordance with the Best Available Techniques (BAT) and emission levels adopted for each sector.  Industrial installations must comply with the conditions set in the permits under the IED. The Commission should aim to update BAT reference documents not later than 8 years after the publication of the previous version.

The IED and the lime BREFs

The Lime BAT Reference Documents (BREFs) with the BAT Conclusions (hyperlink) were published in 2013 and are the reference document for the permit for every lime manufacturing site in the EU.

Being subject to an update after 8 years, the revision of the lime BREF BAT should start in 2021. In order to be prepared for the lime BREFs revision the EuLA expert group has agreed an action plan until 2020.

Our Position

The lime industry, together with the cement sector, was one of the first eight sectors for which a BREF was elaborated. A first version was officially adopted by the Commission back in January 2002. The BREFs are reviewed regularly. The documents can be downloaded from the website of the IPPC Bureau in Seville, which coordinates the activities.