Two ‘European Green Deal’ dossiers - the ‘Fit for 55’ package and the EU Soil Strategy for 2030 - will dominate the last meeting of the year for the EU Environment Council on Monday 20 December, which will be chaired by Slovenian Minister for the Environment and Spatial Planning Andrej Vizjak.
No formal decisions are expected from this ministerial meeting, which will nevertheless provide an opportunity to discuss publicly the key dossiers of the outgoing EU Council Presidency and to take stock of the progress made on other subjects, such as the regulation on batteries and waste, which the future French Presidency of the EU Council will take over in January.
Climate issues will be discussed in the morning with European Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans, and other environmental issues in the afternoon with Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius.
Climate. The Ministers will exchange views on the European Commission’s proposed ‘Fit for 55 package’, based on a report by the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU on the progress of the dossiers managed by the Environment Council (see EUROPE 12848/14).
They will discuss: - the revision of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS); - the reform of the regulation (2018/842) giving each Member State a binding target for annual reductions in its greenhouse gas emissions (effort sharing regulation - ESR); - the setting of new CO2 emission performance standards for new cars and vans; - the creation of a Social Climate Fund; - the revision of the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) Regulation (2018/841).
This will be the third discussion of the Environment Ministers on the ‘Fit for 55’ package, following an informal debate in July (see EUROPE 12766/11) and a formal meeting in early October (see EUROPE 12806/4).
This will be followed by a briefing by Lithuania, supported by Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, Poland and Romania on the ‘mobility package’ (see EUROPE 12524/19) in the context of the ambitions of the ‘European Green Deal’.
EU Soil Strategy. The Ministers will have a first exchange of views on the Soil Strategy for 2030, presented on 17 November by the European Commission in a communication entitled ‘Reaping the benefits of healthy soil for people, food, nature and climate’ (see EUROPE 12834/2).
This strategy proposes to establish a framework with concrete measures for the protection, restoration and sustainable use of soil and foresees a legally binding legislative proposal by 2023.
It aims to increase soil carbon in agricultural land, combat desertification, restore degraded land and soils, and ensure that by 2050 all soil ecosystems are healthy.
The exchange of views will provide guidance for future work, including on the flexibility required for Member States. A proposal for a directive in 2006 failed at the time on subsidiarity grounds.
MEPs held an opening debate on 6 December in the Parliament’s Environment Committee and insisted on respecting subsidiarity (see EUROPE 12847/10).
Regulation on ‘batteries and battery waste’. The Ministers will take note of a progress report from the Slovenian Minister on this draft regulation of December 2020, which aims to develop a European market for sustainable batteries, advance the transition to a circular economy, and contribute to the clean energy transition (see EUROPE 12620/13). This issue is so complex that it has already involved two Presidencies.
The Ministers had already discussed this issue by informal video conference in March (see EUROPE 12681/5) and at the Environment Council in June (see EUROPE 12738/17), under the Portuguese Presidency.
A draft compromise was prepared by the Slovenian Presidency on the text, with the exception of chapter 7, to provide more clarity and precision, notably on targets and timetables, waste management, second life of batteries, transport of batteries, and information requirements. A revised draft compromise is expected to be submitted by the end of the year, before the transition to the French Presidency. See the progress report: https://bit.ly/3seuFhL
‘Miscellaneous’ items. The European Commission will present to Ministers the recent proposal for a regulation on reducing the risk of deforestation and forest degradation associated with products placed on the EU market (see EUROPE 12835/3, 12834/13) and the proposal to revise the 2006 Waste Shipment Regulation (see EUROPE 12834/3).
The Presidency and the European Commission will report to the Ministers on recent major international meetings, including COP26 on climate and the ministerial segment of COP15 on biological diversity.
Austria, supported by Hungary, will inform the Ministers about coordinated action on the regulation of plants obtained through new genomic techniques.
France will present the work programme of its future EU Council Presidency. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang and Damien Genicot)