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Environment Council

I and the Minister with responsibility for local environment, marine and animal welfare, my hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr. Bradshaw), represented the UK at the Environment Council in Luxembourg on 23 October. The Council adopted a political agreement on the proposed Directive on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe, based closely on the general approach agreed at the June Council. The Directive, the first legal measure to be brought forward under the Commission's Air Thematic Strategy of September 2005, consolidates and simplifies current EU ambient air quality legislation, retaining existing standards for pollutants in air, but gives member states several new flexibilities to help them comply with the legislation. The UK supported the political agreement as it represents a balanced compromise. Although the UK would have liked a binding exposure reduction target for fine particles, we are satisfied that the political agreement would result in a net improvement in public health protection. Council Conclusions were agreed on Climate Change ahead of this year's COP/MOP in Nairobi in November. The Conclusions have a strong focus on development issues, and particularly highlight the importance to Developing Countries of the Adaptation Fund, and the potential of a global carbon market to leverage funding for technology transfer. They emphasise the key role that the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) has to play in creating a price for carbon, as well as the potential of a range of new technologies (including carbon capture and storage) to reduce CO2 emissions both within and outside the EU. The UK supported the Conclusions. Climate Change was also discussed over lunch by Ministers who were joined by the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Yvo de Boer. The Council failed to agree unanimously Conclusions on the preparations of the Eighth Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention on the control of trans-boundary hazardous wastes and their disposal. These were adopted as Presidency Conclusions instead. The UK supported the Presidency Conclusions, in particular the inclusion of strong language on ship dismantling. The new convention being negotiated under the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is unlikely to enter into force for several years and interim measures are needed to improve environmental conditions .at current ship dismantling facilities. Council Conclusions were agreed on the Thematic Strategy on the sustainable use of natural resources. The UK supports the Thematic Strategy as a first-step towards decoupling economic growth from the environmental impacts of resource use. The UK supported the Council Conclusions and is particularly pleased to see strong links being made to the Commission's proposed EU sustainable consumption and production (SCP) Action Plan, which we believe will be an important means of advancing this agenda. The Council held a policy debate on the Thematic Strategy for the protection of the marine environment and the proposed Marine Strategy Directive. Member states were asked to consider whether the Strategy and Directive are adequate, whether an explicit definition of Good Environmental Status (GES) is required in the Directive and how to balance and strengthen national measures and regional co-operation. The UK intervened to support an ambitious but realistic definition of GES in the Directive and to highlight the need for cost-benefit analysis as GES is developed. The UK also proposed that the Directive be strengthened so that there is a requirement for appropriate decisions or actions to be taken, within the framework of the Common Fisheries Policy, where fishing is preventing a member state from achieving GES. Under Any Other Business, member states raised the First European Congress on Conservation Biology, a ban on mercury exports from the EU, forest fires, invasive alien species, import of unauthorised GMOs into the EU and the investigation concerning the tanker Probo Koala. In addition, the resumption of commercial whaling by Iceland was discussed. The UK condemned the decision by Iceland and urged other member states to voice their concerns. The Presidency and the Commission updated Ministers on EU/Third Country meetings with: the EU/Russia Partnership Council on Environment; Korea; China; ASEM; and India.