EU-Umwelt-Rat am 18. Dezember: Wichtigste Forderungen des European Environmental Bureau (EEB)

The main topics of discussion at the meeting:

  1. Regulation on packaging and packing waste, amending Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 and Directive (EU) 2019/904, and repealing Directive 94/62/EC

    Packaging waste is at an all-time high, and its growth has outpaced the economy. The packaging sector is a major driver of virgin resource exploitation, using 40% plastic and 50% of paper in Europe. The legislation around packaging must make all packaging reusable or recyclable by 2030 and reverse the levels of waste. Discussions on November 22nd were disrupted by extraordinary lobbying.

    Environmental Council needs to adopt a general approach before 2030, support ambitious reuse targets across a range of sectors, support the restriction of unnecessary packaging, refrain from encouraging simple material substitution, and support the ban of harmful substances in food packaging.

  2. Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience (policy debate)

    With an estimated 60-70% of EU soils considered unhealthy, it will be crucial to restore and preserve soil to attain various aspects of the EGD around biodiversity, food, and water security. The current Commission proposal should be supported, but there are some shortcomings that need to be improved to achieve 100% healthy soils by 2050.

    Environmental Council should support and improve the proposal for a Soil Law by ensuring effective monitoring and assessment of soil biodiversity (using community-level physiological profiling and metabarcoding), establishing legally binding targets, and including binding provisions on land take.

  3. Regulation on a monitoring framework for resilient European forests (policy debate)

    Forests play a major role in the wellbeing of the planet. The proposal from the Commission for a Regulation on a monitoring framework for resilient European forests (Forest Monitoring Law) will strengthen forest protection, restoration, and sustainable management; however, it does not require Member States to act on the data collected on the state of forests.

    The Environmental Council should insist that the Environmental Council leads the negotiation on the file, make strategic planning mandatory, ensure data sharing for remote sensing, prioritize a participatory process when developing methodologies and analysis of data quality, and improve social and economic indicators.

  4. 2040 Climate Target

    The decarbonization pathway developed should be consistent and monitored and the current setting around mandatory climate, renewable and energy efficiency targets should be kept. Additional clarity should be given to the consequences of missing climate targets under the

Effort-Sharing Regulation, ideally with fines. Also, countries that are planning to deploy untested technologies should have robust plans in case of delays. The pathway should carefully consider impacts to people regarding jobs, energy savings, mobility, and other areas.

The Environmental Council should start discussing the EU framework for the 2040 mandatory climate target that aims for at least 95% decarbonization, incorporate renewable energy and energy efficiency targets, include the need for a mandatory mid- target in 2035, and consider robust governance mechanisms for sectors under the Effort Sharing regulation.

EEB input to the EU Environment Council Meeting, Brussels, 18 December 2023