Figure 2. Current Application of BAT

14  1. WHAT’S THE ISSUE?

specific activity may be impacted by upstream suppliers and affect downstream activities including further processing or consumer use that are not necessarily considered in BAT determinations. Additionally, the sector of focus could impose requirements upon upstream markets or be affected by downstream regulatory or market requirements. Environmental regulation along with other regulatory requirements and market decisions define the framework within which an industrial installation operates. Sector activities, including essential inputs, are increasingly fragmented across the globe with installations carrying out a variety of different industrial processes. The different processes and installations from an individual production chain may be located in different countries (VITO, 2014[2]). These production chain complexities and the broad array of factors, affecting a given industrial activity are not fully understood. In general, the establishment of BAT is focused upon dealing with industrial activities individually, in isolation. As such, there is the possibility that the BAT approaches identified do not adequately consider interactions with other industries and actors as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Current Application of BAT

Source: (Huybrechts, D et al, 2018[3])

In the illustration above, the box is representative of established BAT requirements or guidance for a given sector. Global assessment across the value chain (significant up-stream and/or connected operations, and relevant earlier steps of associated activities with a technical connection) may indicate that the prescribed BAT-associated emission levels optimise environmental performance in one industrial process while at the same time have negative environmental implications on, influence the costs of, or the need for new techniques in, other parts of the value chain (VITO, 2014[2]). While the multi-stakeholder groups in charge of establishing BAT – known as Technical Working Groups in some countries – may consider value chain effects in the development of some BREFs, this is usually not done systematically (VITO, 2014[2]). Industrial symbiosis and circular economy are described in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, respectively. This lack of systematic methodology for value chain consideration may result in regulatory gaps, deficiencies or no net gain in pollution prevention or reduction. Thus, researchers have called for more explicit and methodical approaches to ensure that BAT form a consistent

BEST AVAILABLE TECHNIQUES (BAT) FOR PREVENTING AND CONTROLLING INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION © OECD 2022

1. WHAT’S THE ISSUE?  15

driver to greening global value chains and sustainable supply chain management (Huybrechts, D et al, 2018[3]).

Definitions and rationale

For a common understanding, key terms and concepts related to BAT and value chains are defined.  Best Available Techniques (BAT) are understood to mean the most effective and advanced stage in the development of industrial activities and their methods of operation, designed to prevent and, where that is not practicable, to reduce emissions and the impact on the environment as a whole (OECD, 2017[1]).  Supply Chains are used internationally to encompass every logistical and procedural activity involved in producing and delivering a final product or service, “from the supplier’s supplier to the customer’s customer” (Feller, Shunk and Callarman, 2006[3])”.  Value Chains represent all processes that generate or add incremental value necessary to bring goods and services to market. Value chains differ from, and are broader than, supply chains in that they encompass more than direct supplier-customer relationships (Reddy Amarender, 2013[4]). See Chapter 2 for a more extensive discussion. Industrial installations and activities are interlinked through value chains. A value chain typically includes processes such as raw material production, manufacturing of primary materials, intermediate materials and end-products, distribution, use, waste collection, material recuperation or waste treatment and management processes. Due to interconnected industrial activities, research is needed to assess the extent to which conventional BAT determination delivers wider value chain considerations.

Project objectives and next steps

To set the context for evaluating the application of value chain approaches to BAT determinations, Chapter 2 of this document briefly describes four value chain approaches and discusses their commonalities, helping define the value chain lens used in this study. Chapters 3 to 5 of this document aim to:  examine the extent to which industrial value chains have been considered when establishing BAT or similar regulatory concepts and, if there is a lack of value chain consideration, to assess their impact;  evaluate gaps in existing frameworks to assess if the application of value chain approaches could improve BAT determination;  discuss challenges associated with the use of value chain approaches in the BAT determination process; and  develop recommendations on if, and how, value chain approaches could be more widely incorporated in establishing BAT. This study will hopefully lead to the systematic integration of value chain approaches into BAT determination, resulting in overall reductions of environmental impacts at the industrial sector level and at the installation level.

BEST AVAILABLE TECHNIQUES (BAT) FOR PREVENTING AND CONTROLLING INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION © OECD 2022