European environment policy update

Barbara BacigalupiUnit F.1 "Resource efficiency & economic analysis"

European Commission, DG Environment

Working Groups Environmental Accounts & Environmental Expenditure Statistics

Luxembourg, 10 March 2015

Key EU environmental priorities

• 7th Environmental Action Programme

"Living well within the limits of our planet"

• Circular Economy

• Air quality

• Sustainable Development Goals

• 2015: Natural Capital Year

• Implementation

"In 2050, we live well, within the planet's

ecological limits. Our prosperity and

healthy environment stem from an

innovative, circular economy where

nothing is wasted and where natural

resources are managed sustainably, and

biodiversity is protected, valued and

restored in ways that enhance our society's

resilience. Our low-carbon growth has long

been decoupled from resource use, setting

the pace for a safe and sustainable global

society."

7th EAP – Long-term vision

A 2020 timeframe and 2050 visionNine priority objectives

3 THEMATIC:

1. Natural capital – "Nurturing the hand that feeds us"

2. Resource efficient, low-carbon growth – "Doing more with less"

3. Health & environment – "Taking care of the environment is taking care of ourselves"

4 'ENABLERS':

4. Implementation – "Good for the environment, our health and our wallets"

5. Knowledge/evidence base – "Best decisions based on latest data"

6. Investment – "Green incentives mean green innovations"

7. Integration – "Tackling multiple challenges with one approach"

2 'HORIZONTAL':

8. Urban environment – "Working together for common solutions"

9. International – "Living well, within the limits of our planet is a global aim"

The 7th EAP – nine elements

1. To protect, conserve and enhance the

EU's natural capital

2. To turn the EU into a resource-

efficient, green and competitive

low-carbon economy

3. To safeguard EU citizens from

environment-related pressures

and risks to health and wellbeing

7th EAP - Thematic priority objectives

Four 'enablers' to achieve the priority objectives

Savings costs through better implementation. Full implementation of EU waste legislation would: Save €72 billion a

year; Increase the

annual turnover of the EU waste management and recycling sector by €42 billion; and

Create over 400,000 new jobs by 2020

Better information by: improving the

way data and other information is collected, managed and used across the EU;

investing in research to fill knowledge gaps;

developing a more systematic approach to new and emerging risks

Adequate investments and innovation in products, services and public policies. We must: Send the right

market signals to reflect the costs to the environment

Apply polluter-pays principle, cutting out EHS, shifting taxation to pollution

Better integration of environmental concerns into other policy areas, such as regional policy, agriculture, fisheries, energy and transport will ensure better decision-making and coherent policy approaches that deliver multiple benefits.

Concept of the circular economy

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Circular Economy package

• First proposal "Moving towards a circular economy: a zero waste programme for Europe" in July 2014

• Work Programme 2015 : "Withdraw and replace by new, more ambitious proposal by end 2015 to promote circular economy"

• Commission decision on 25 February 2015• New proposal in 2015

Air quality

• Adoption of a comprehensive Air Quality Package (December 2013)

• Discussions continue between the Member States and the European Parliament to reach an agreement on how to improve the air quality by 2020

• Modified proposal on the Directive on National Emissions Ceilings

Sustainable Development Goals and the post-2015 agenda

Global dimension of SDSustainable Development Goals and the post

2015 agenda

• Post-2015 agenda for sustainable development

• Sustainable Development Goals July 2014: proposal for 17 goals and 169 targets

EU contribution to SustainableDevelopment Goals and the post 2015 agenda

• A global partnership for poverty eradication and Sustainable Development after 2015 (February 2015)

• A Decent Life for All: From vision to collective action (June 2014)

The EU's vision for the SDGs was set out in the Commission Communication of 2nd June 2014

"A Decent Life for All: From vision to collective action"

The EU's vision for a new global partnership was set out in the Commission Communication of 3rd February 2015

"A global partnership for poverty eradication and Sustainable Development after 2015"

• National ownership and leadership• Key components of a Global partnership• Monitoring, Accountability and Review

Sustainable Development Goals and the post 2015 agenda

Next steps

• July 2015: 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa

• September 2015: special UN Summit on Sustainable Development in New York. All countries to agree the new SD agenda and SDGs

• December 2015: 21st conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris

Work in data and indicators to monitoring the SDGs

• Advice report on monitoring the SDGs, UN Advisory Independent Expert Group, November 2014 Set of 5 Recommendations

• Discussions on indicators started

Natural Capital

• 2015: Year of Natural Capital• State of Nature Report in 2015• 2015 Green Week: "Nature: our health, our wealth"• Consultations on the Fitness Check of Nature Legislation • Preparation for the mid-term review of the Biodiversity

Strategy later in 2015

Implementation

• Many infringement cases of EU environmental law• 7th EAP commits EU and its Member States to speed up the implementation of existing strategies

EEA – SOER 2015The European EnvironmentState and Outlook 2015

Better knowledge of our environmentfor better policy making

We must work together!

At different levels of governance but also across the various knowledge providers – Statisticians, researchers, universities and other data producers

Thank you for your attention!

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/resource_efficiency/

Barbara.Bacigalupi@ec.europa.eu