Sustainability and post-Kyoto targets in the balance at EU summit

On the opening day of the summit, the Green 9 group of environmental NGOs urged EU leaders to add an additional goal to the Lisbon strategy: "make Europe the most resource and energy efficient economy in the world." The group, which, includes the likes of WWF, Greenpeace and the European Public Health Alliance, claims that the proposal got the support of Commission President José Manuel Barroso at a meeting one week before the summit. 

"Increasing energy and resource efficiency in Europe will improve competitiveness, boost innovation, create jobs, respect the environment and improve citizens health," said Martin Rocholl of Friends of the Earth Europe, a member of the Green 9. Saying that "most of the products and services in the EU could be produced with less resources and energy," Rocholl made the case for boosting Europe's investments in eco-technologies with an improved action plan for Environmental technologies (see EURACTIV's related LinksDossier). "The technology is already there," Rocholl said.

Business circles have called on the Commission to focus its action on economic growth as a precondition to employment and environment policies. In its spring economic outlook published on 21 March, the EU employers' organisation UNICE said the EU would "not be able to maintain [its] social and environmental ambitions if the economic pillar of sustainable development is not considerably strengthened".  

Reacting to the Commission assessment of the Gothenburg strategy in February, the European SME organisation UEAPME said the Commission's proposed focus on economic growth "must be supported" by the social and sustainable development agendas. "It is important to ensure that the recommendations of the review, such as those on improving energy efficiency, do not entail increasing the regulatory and administrative burden on SMEs," said UEAPME Secretary General Hans-Werner Müller. 

Tony Long of WWF's European Policy Office told EURACTIV about his concerns regarding the re-orientation of the EU sustainable development strategy which the Green 9 group of environmental NGOs fears could be relegated to a sort of second league, behind competitiveness and economic growth. 

Meeting with Commission President ahead of the summit, Long says José Manuel Barroso challenged this perception by reminding him that sustainable development is part of the Treaty whereas the Lisbon agenda is not. "To some extent, this reassured us," Tony Long told EURACTIV. But he remains sceptical about the Commission's move towards systematic impact assessments as part of the better regulation initiative announced by Commissioner Verheugen one week before the summit (see EURACTIV, 17 March 2005). He points out that the environmental benefits which are supposed to be included in the assessments are much harder to quantify than the economic costs. As a consequence, he fears the economic part of the assessment will almost automatically prevail over environmental considerations. However, Long does not lose all hopes about the future of the EU sustainable development policy. "We have allies in the Commission," he says. 

However, on the specific point of binding post-Kyoto targets currently being discussed by EU leaders, Long said he had doubts that they will actually be adopted at the summit. "We will press hard for it but I would not expect it," he said.

EU environment ministers meeting on 10 March set out ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets to tackle the global warming impact of human activities (see EURACTIV, 11 March 2005). They also reiterated their commitment to the EU's sustainable development policy, saying it could go along with the strong economic performance which the Commission's renewed Lisbon strategy is meant to deliver (see EURACTIV, 11 March 2005).

EU official documents

• Council:Environment(10 March 2005)
• Commission: Press release -Commission sets a positive agenda for the 2005 review of the Sustainable Development Strategy(9 Feb. 2005) [FR] [FR] [DE]
• Commission:Communication on the 2005 Review of the EU Sustainable Development StrategyCOM (2005)37 [FR] [FR] [DE]
• Commission:The Review of the EU SD Strategy 2005 [FR]
• DG Environment:Action on climate change post-2012

EU Actors positions

• Friends of the Earth Europe:Environmental NGOs: Make Europe the most resource and energy efficient economy in the world(23 March 2005)
• European Business Council for Sustainbale Energy (e5):Sustainability is a part, not a consequence of growth(21 March 2005)
• WWF:WWF calls on EU Summit to uphold visionary approach on climate change(21 March 2005)
• WWF:WWF meets EU Commission President(16 March 2005)
• UNICE:Economic outlook spring 2005: Growth too sluggish to improve job prospects(17 March 2005)
• UNICE:UNICE urges EU Ministers to follow global approach for climate change(9 March 2005)
• UEAPME:Member States must deliver reforms for jobs and growth(15 March 2005)
• EEB:The Spring Summit and Europe's Environment: Making the Lisbon process work for sustainable development(Feb. 2005)
• EEB / ETUC / Social platform:Make Lisbon work for sustainable development(21 March 2005)
• The Lisbon Council:Reform Leaders Demand: Make Europe Social Again!

Time-saving Overviews

• EURACTIV Links Dossier:Sustainable Development: EU Strategy