The majority of MEPs in the European Parliament’s Environment Committee welcomed the ambition of the draft report by Grace O’Sullivan (Greens/EFA, Ireland) on the EU’s general environmental action programme for 2030 (8th EAP), which reinforces the Commission’s proposal.
This project, debated on Thursday 25 February, aims to integrate the actions of the European Green Deal into the 8th EAP and to make the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the backbone of the programme to enable systemic change, with the ultimate goal of “Living well, within the limits of our planet” by 2050 at the latest. It calls for a review in 2024 of the progress made.
“The Commission sees the 8th EAP as a framework for the Green Deal, but there is the potential to make something stronger out of it: to ensure that it has a real impact, that it is a real instrument of governance with a monitoring component and concrete actions”, said Mrs O’Sullivan.
On the priority objectives, she advocates moving towards a sustainable social economy, as the current crisis has shown to what extent the three pillars of sustainable development are not balanced. She also advocates an economy that promotes well-being “to reflect the vision of citizens who wish to live in harmony with nature”.
Monitoring GDP is not sufficient as an indicator to assess progress. Mrs O’Sullivan advocates, among other things, measuring the cost of inaction and ensuring that all measures are monitored annually, with the results taken into account by all EU institutions.
Agnès Evren (EPP, France) considered that the framework for monitoring progress will be crucial. “It should be as clear as possible and be based on a limited number of indicators based on existing data, such as data from the European Environment Agency. In my view, this is the key to enabling political communication while limiting the administrative burden”, she stressed, announcing an amendment on this subject.
Dimítris Papadákis (S&D, Cyprus) stressed the importance of the EAP in addressing the climate and environmental emergency by taking into account the links between nature and health. It must be “an ambitious instrument to guide EU environmental action by 2030”. An evaluation in 2024 will, he said, be welcome “to ensure the success of the priority objectives”.
In the opinion of María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos (Renew Europe, Spain), in order to successfully face the challenge of climate change and the biodiversity crisis, in the context of the health emergency, “the 8th EAP must be the basis for our economic development and the well-being of all our citizens”.
The European Parliament can cooperate to ensure good coordination and compliance, which is necessary to achieve the thematic objectives, she insisted. She considers the indicators to be a fundamental monitoring tool for the biodiversity and carbon footprint monitoring strategies.
Convinced of the urgent need to protect biodiversity, Aurélia Beigneux (ID, France) said that the EU should lead technological advances to combine new technologies and the environment. In her view, in this period of crisis, priority must be given to economic recovery. Castigating the call for the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies by 2025, she denounced an “ideological” approach.
She added: “Encouraging the extraction of rare metals for the manufacture of wind turbines or batteries does not solve the problem. On the contrary, you are making it worse by relocating pollution to poor countries”.
Petros Kokkalis (The Left, Greece) wants an implementation timetable for a sustainable SDG-based economy.
The Commission indicated that the legal basis does not allow for legal obligations to be set out in the EAP. The institution is already working on a new resilience scorecard.
The deadline for the tabling of amendments is 3 May. The committee vote is scheduled for May and the Parliament vote for June. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)