The Environment and/or Climate Ministers of the EU27 Member States will meet in Luxembourg on Tuesday 28 June with the aim of reaching political agreements (‘general approach’) on 8 texts - seven texts from the legislative package aimed at enabling the EU to reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels (the ‘Fit for 55’ package) and one text on the EU’s contribution to the fight against global deforestation.
This session of the EU Environment Council will therefore be particularly busy and ambitious. For the last ministerial meeting under its rotating presidency of the EU Council, France set the bar high before handing over to the Czech Republic.
‘Fit for 55’. The meeting will start with an exchange of views on: - the revision of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), including its aviation component and the revision of the Market Stability Reserve (MSR); - the revision of the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR); - the revision of the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry Regulation (LULUCF); - the revision of CO2 emission standards for new cars and vans; - the creation of a ‘Social Climate Fund’.
These texts, linked to each other, form an overall package “on which we hope to reach a finalisation in the EU Council on Tuesday”, said an EU diplomat two days before the ministers’ meeting, while expressing optimism about obtaining a General approach on each text.
According to him, the examination of these dossiers at technical level (EU Council working groups and Coreper) has been completed and must now give way to “the moment of decision”.
On the Social Climate Fund, many points remained open during the last discussions in Coreper, such as the size of the Fund, which some Member States still wanted to reduce. But a new compromise text, dated 25 June, could make things easier (see other news).
The same EU diplomat indicated that the French Presidency did not envisage a scenario where one of the texts would not be approved. Adding: “The preparation of this EU Council is based on the collective ambition of the Presidency and the partners to be able to define the modalities of the final compromise on all these texts”.
It should be noted that the ‘Fit for 55’ package was also on the agenda of the meeting of Member States’ energy ministers on Monday 27 June. They agreed on two proposals for the energy package: the revision of the Energy Efficiency Directive (2018/2002) and the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (2018/2001) (see other news).
Deforestation Regulation. Ministers will be asked to approve a ‘general approach’ on the November 2021 regulation, which aims to minimise the risk of global deforestation and forest degradation associated with products placed on the EU market, by imposing a duty of due diligence on operators and traders throughout the supply chain. This regulation was a priority of the French Presidency at the beginning of its six-month term at the head of the EU Council.
The text of the general approach was supported by the EU27 Ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) on 22 June. This compromise aims to ensure a balance between a high level of ambition and feasibility. It strengthens the European Commission’s proposal, particularly with regard to the scope and human rights provisions. It also clarifies and simplifies the regulation in order to facilitate its implementation by operators, in particular SMEs, and to ensure its compatibility with WTO rules (see EUROPE 12978/21).
See the draft General approach https://aeur.eu/f/29e
Waste transfers. The French Presidency will present the ministers with a progress report on the discussions on the November 2021 proposal for a regulation on shipments of waste (revision of regulation 1013/2006). The proposed new rules aim to restrict waste exports to developing countries, improve combatting of illegal shipments and recycle waste in the EU to boost the circular economy by avoiding the waste of resources that could be used as secondary raw materials (see EUROPE 12834/3).
In addition, the European Commission will inform the Ministers about certain legislative proposals currently being examined and on which the Czech Presidency will take over. Namely the following: - the F-Gas Regulation (see EUROPE 12926/3); - the revision of the Industrial Emissions Directive, proposed last April to facilitate the transition to the circular economy by 2030 and the ‘zero pollution’ goal (see EUROPE 12926/2); - the ‘Sustainable Products’ Regulation of 30 March setting out ecodesign and information requirements for almost all products (see EUROPE 12922/1, 12921/12).
‘Miscellaneous’ item. Ministers will be informed by the Presidency and the Commission of recent international meetings, namely: - The triple Conference of the Parties to the Basel (COP15), Rotterdam (COP10) and Stockholm (COP10) Conventions (Geneva, 6-17 June 2022) (see EUROPE 12976/2) ; - the twenty-sixth meeting of the Working Group of the Parties and the third extraordinary session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention (Geneva, 22-24 June 2022) - COP15 of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) (Abidjan, 9-20 May 2022); - the meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (Bali, Indonesia, 21-25 March 2022).
The Swedish delegation will report on the conference ‘A healthy planet for all to prosper - our responsibility, our opportunity’ (Stockholm, Sweden, 2-3 June 2022) and the Cypriot delegation will report on the 9th Ministerial Conference ‘Environment for Europe’. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot and Aminata Niang)