Brussels, 23/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 21 June, the European Parliament renewed its commitment to including environmental concerns in all of its administrative activities, in an effort to reduce the impact of these activities on the environment and further reduce its carbon footprint.
The environmental policy declaration signed on 21 June in Brussels by the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz and the Secretary General, Klaus Welle, reconfirms the commitments made by the EP in 2010 to apply the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) for continually improving its performances in view of attaining environmental sustainability in all of its activities.
The EP administration is committed to respecting environmental standards and strict energy efficiency criteria in all its policies for the construction of all EU buildings and stepping up efforts to introduce best practices, particularly for greenhouse gas emissions, waste management, energy, water and paper use.
In October 2014, a European Court of Auditors report said that the EU institutions were failing to show an example and that they should develop a common policy for contributing to the EU's 2020 climate targets (see EUROPE 11177).
Speaking on Twitter, Martin Schulz said "the EP leads by example in reducing its carbon footprint ". In February 2009, the EP introduced an action plan to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% by 2020 compared to 2006 levels (see EUROPE 9846). In 2015, the EP succeeded in reducing this footprint by 24.3% per person. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)