The ministers' informal meetings will take place back-to-back in Sweden on 23-25 July, including a joint session on Friday (24 July) to forge consensus on the best path towards a future with more growth and fewer emissions. The informal talks will be held on the basis of a Stockholm Environment Institute report, which argued that the EU needs to put more effort into promoting innovation and energy efficiency (EurActiv 02/07/09).
Acting on climate change and reducing Europe's dependency on imported fossil fuels by creating new energy systems will be two key issues to address, Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said, outlining the idea behind the concept.
"A third challenge is to foster competitiveness and innovation through these great transformations, in both the climate system and in energy," he added.
The meeting will see high-profile guests like Lord Nicholas Stern and South African Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Buyelwa Patience Sonjica join the ministers.
Carlgren said the conclusions prepared for the meeting called for an integrated policy response across several policy areas. He said economic policy, including taxation, education, and research and development, among others, would all have to be harnessed to contribute to the changes.
Sweden wants to see the Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs reflect the new priorities. It will make a strong environmental pillar a central part of the new strategy, to be put on the table again at a meeting of the Competitiveness Council in October.
Before the joint meeting, energy ministers will hold talks tomorrow (23 July) to address energy efficiency. The meeting will discuss the possible content of the EU's Energy Efficiency Action Plan, which the Commission hopes to table in November.
The Swedish EU Presidency also hopes to make progress on key legislative dossiers like energy labelling, the recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and tyre labelling. It plans to reach an agreement on the legislation by the end of the year, but progress so far has been slow (EurActiv 25/06/09).
Environment ministers, on the other hand, will hold separate working sessions on climate change on Friday, while Saturday is devoted to the EU's position for international climate talks.
The environment policymakers will advance discussions on financing criteria for comparability of effort in a bid to confirm the EU's role as the engine for achieving an ambitious new treaty in Copenhagen in December.
Carlgren argued that a "tough game" was to be expected in the remaining months, requiring all EU parties to put pressure on developed countries to make further commitments to cut emissions and on major emerging economies to deliver sufficient reductions.
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