Eco-innovation and biodiversity environmental priorities for 2006[fr][de] 

According to the latest annual Environment Policy Review (EPR), the year 2005 was a good year for EU environment policy. The report, which provides the environmental input for the March Spring European Council, claims progress on several fronts:

• in the fight against climate change, the Kyoto protocol entered into force and the EU's emissions trading scheme made good progress;
• new thematic strategies on waste, air pollution, marine environment, urban environment, and the use of resources laid the "foundations of the next generation of environment policy";
• the review of the EU's sustainable development strategy "provided a new framework for addressing long-term economic, social and environmental trends and their synergies"

The annual review also indicates what will be the main priorities for environmental policy in the year 2006. Eco-innovation, biodiversity and continued efforts to deal with climate change will be high on the Commission's agenda in the next twelve months.

The EU's positive environment report, on the other hand, is contradicted by some of the "new evidence" on environmental deterioration mentioned in the same document. Europe's "ecological footprint" (a measure for the environmental pressure) is 4.9 global hectares per person, but the "limit on Earth's resources means that only 1.8 hectares are available for each person," says the Commission's own report. 

Stefan Scheuer of the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) evaluates 2005 as a difficult year for EU environment policy. "It was more a year of damage prevention", Mr Scheuer told EurActiv. According to the EEB speaker, Commissioner Dimas was able to rescue the thematic strategies and "avoid a major U-turn" of EU environment policy.