1. European environment policy update
Barbara Bacigalupi
Unit F.1 "Resource efficiency & economic analysis"
European Commission, DG Environment
Working Groups
Environmental Accounts & Environmental Expenditure Statistics
Luxembourg, 10 March 2015

2. 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

3. 7th EAP – Long-term vision
"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." 3

4. Nine priority objectives
A 2020 timeframe and 2050 vision
Nine priority objectives 4

5. The 7th EAP – nine elements
3 Thematic:
Natural capital – "Nurturing the hand that feeds us"
Resource efficient, low-carbon growth – "Doing more with less"
Health & environment – "Taking care of the environment is taking care of ourselves"
4 'Enablers':
Implementation – "Good for the environment, our health and our wallets"
Knowledge/evidence base – "Best decisions based on latest data"
Investment – "Green incentives mean green innovations"
Integration – "Tackling multiple challenges with one approach"
2 'Horizontal':
Urban environment – "Working together for common solutions"
International – "Living well, within the limits of our planet is a global aim" 5

6. 7th EAP - Thematic priority objectives
To protect, conserve and enhance the EU's natural capital
To turn the EU into a resource-efficient, green and competitive low-carbon economy
To safeguard EU citizens from environment-related pressures and risks to health and wellbeing 6

7. 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.

8. Concept of the circular economy
Linear economy VS

9. 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

10. 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

11. Sustainable Development Goals and the post-2015 agenda

12. Global dimension of SD Sustainable 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

13. EU contribution to Sustainable Development 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)

14. The EU's vision for the SDGs was set out in the Commission Communication of 2nd June "A Decent Life for All: From vision to collective action"

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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

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

20. EEA – SOER 2015 The European Environment State and Outlook 2015

21. Better knowledge of our environment for 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!