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Last update: September 2011

General information Europe and environment

What is Europe and environment about?

A clean, healthy and diverse environment is the prerequisite for prosperity and well-being for everyone in Europe. This can only be achieved through a common framework. Environmental pollution, no matter where it comes from, does not stop at national borders. It will also be important to rule out short-term economic advantages which can arise from the fact that a few countries have lower environmental standards. Therefore, approximately 80 per cent of the environmental policies applicable in Germany are made in Brussels, by the EU Commission, the EU Parliament and the Council, which represent all 27 member states¹.

Effective environmental protection also requires reasonable coordination of environmental with economic, transport and agricultural policies. In Europe this is to be achieved by mechanisms such as the Lisbon Strategy or the Sustainable Development Strategy. Important data on European environmental policies and their interaction with other policy fields can be obtained from the European Environment Agency in Copenhagen. The EU enlargement provides a great opportunity to protect the environment in Europe and to strengthen the EU's leading role in international environmental protection. For this reason EU environmental standards are also brought to the attention of our neighbouring countries on the Balkan.

Objectives

The 6th Environment Action Plan is the basis for the development of environmental policies in the EU; it lays down the targets and priorities for the 2002 to 2012 period. Furthermore, the EU agreed on climate protection targets in 2007 under the German Presidency which are to be implemented by means of the European climate package. European environmental policy objectives include:

combating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 8 per cent by 2012 in the energy and transport sector, in industry and in other sectors; the target for EU-wide greenhouse gas emission reductions is 20 per cent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.
increasing the share of renewable energy sources and in energy efficiency in Europe to a 20 per cent level by 2020,
protecting the natural environment and biological diversity including the protection of landscapes and a new initiative for the protection of the marine environment,
environment, health and quality of life including a general review of the EU risk assessment scheme for chemicals, a strategy to improve air quality and noise exposure mitigation,
sustainable use and management of natural resources and waste.

Legal provisions are necessary to reach the environmental targets in the European Union. Major legal acts in the EU include the Water Framework and the Waste Framework Directives, the chemicals regulation REACH, the Flora-Fauna-Habitats Directive and the Air Quality Directive. However, the best legal provisions will not be successful if they are not implemented. This is the prime responsibility of the member states. But Brussels also provides support, i.e. through the network for the implementation and enforcement of environmental law, which allows practitioners to learn from each other, or through funds from the LIFE+ programme.

The German government's policy

Germany, as one of the six founding members of the European communities, sees itself as a driving force of environmental policy. In the same way in which the European Union attempts to set international standards, in particular in climate protection and nature conservation policies, Germany is taking the lead in Europe: It has demonstrated that it is possible to restructure industrial societies to become environmentally sound and how it is done and it has given an impetus for the development of ambitious European environmental standards.

¹Current members of the European Union: Germany, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Poland, Romania, Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Portugal, Austria, Bulgaria, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Finland, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Luxemburg, Slovenia and Malta.