Climate will be at the forefront of the discussions of the European Environment Ministers meeting in EU Council on Friday 4 October in Luxembourg, with a political debate on the EU's long-term climate strategy and the adoption of conclusions for COP 25 in Santiago de Chile. Conclusions are also expected on the circular economy and the need for an 8th Environmental Action Programme (EAP) for the post-2020 period.
Climate neutrality. Ministers will be invited to answer the following questions: - what are the main conditions, incentives and enabling framework that need to be prepared at EU level and be operational in the short, medium and long term in order to achieve climate neutrality objectives in the EU? - what measures and actions at EU level, including sectoral ones, should be strengthened to make a decisive and rapid contribution to climate neutrality in the EU by 2050?
The discussion will be based on the Commission's Communication 'A clean planet for all - A long-term European strategic vision for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate-neutral economy', on the requests from the June European Council and on a summary note prepared by the Finnish Presidency summarising the main trends identified so far in the various Council formations (see EUROPE 12335/14)
COP 25. Ministers are expected to adopt conclusions on the EU's position at the 25th meeting to the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Santiago de Chile, 2-13 December). The only question to be decided is the wording to be chosen for the objective that the EU will submit to the UNFCCC in 2020 to confirm or increase its ambition.
In addition, the text should stress the urgency of taking action and strengthening global climate action and ambition. It should also underline that the EU expects progress on all COP25 issues: the finalisation of the revision of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage, the Enhanced Transparency Framework; capacity building; the revision of the Lima Work Programme on Gender (LWPG) and its Gender Action Plan (GAP). The only issue to be decided is the objective that the EU will submit to the UNFCCC in 2020 to raise its ambition.
Circular economy: Ministers are expected to adopt conclusions on the basis of the Commission's report on the first EU Action Plan 2015 and the exploratory discussion they had in July at their informal meeting in Helsinki on the possible content of an Action Plan 2.0 for climate and biodiversity (see EUROPE 12295/7). In particular, the EU Council will call on the Commission to present an ambitious long-term strategic framework.
8th Environmental Action Programme. On the basis of the evaluation of the 7th EAP (2014-2020), presented in May by the Commission, the EU Council will insist in its conclusions on the usefulness of an 8th EAP for the period 2021-2030, given the scale of the remaining environmental and climate challenges, and invite the institution to present it no later than early 2020.
Informally (various items), the Finnish Presidency will inform ministers of progress on the Regulation on taxonomy for sustainable finance (see EUROPE 12335/8). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)