Navigation path

Welcome. My name is Janez Potočnik and I am European Commissioner for the Environment. Making sure our environment is fit for the future is one of the toughest challenges of all... I hope you can see here what we're doing to try to meet that challenge.

My Twitter Updates



News

25/05/2012: "Every drop counts!"

Speech by Commissioner Janez POTOČNIK, Closing session of the European Green Week 2012, Brussels

24/05/2012: EU announces winners of European Business Awards for the Environment 2012

EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik has announced the winners of the European Business Awards for the Environment 2012 at an evening ceremony at Green Week. The five winners reflect contributions to sustainable development in: management, product, and process innovation respectively, international business cooperation, and business and biodiversity. The 2012 winners are: Marks and Spencer (UK) for management; Aquamarine Power (UK) for product; Umicore (Belgium) for process; INENSUS GmbH (Germany) for international business cooperation; and Slovenské elektrárne, a.s. (Slovakia) for business and biodiversity.

23/05/2012: Clean water at majority of EU holiday destinations

Good news if you’re planning a beach holiday in Europe this summer. 92.1 % of bathing waters in the European Union now meet the minimum water quality standards set by the Bathing Water Directive. This includes the Serpentine Lake in London, which will host several Olympics events, including the Open Water Marathon Swim and the swimming section of the triathlon.

23/05/2012: Commissioner Potočnik welcomes provisional agreement on sulphur emissions from ships

22/05/2012: Wise up your water use with Water Maniac Walter

The European Commission launched a new viral clip today as part of the "Generation Awake!" campaign, which alerts consumers to the dangers of unsustainable patterns of consumption. The clip features Water Maniac Walter, a neurotic bucket who addresses the theme of excessive water use. The clip links to the Generation Awake website, a multilingual site intended to get citizens thinking about their consumption habits, and help them change their behaviour so as to live more sustainably.

22/05/2012: Green Week opens in Brussels

Europe's largest environment conference kicked off today under the banner “The Water Challenge – Every Drop Counts”. This year's edition of Green Week is dedicated to water, and will see some 3000 participants gather for three days to discuss water-related issues. Stakeholders, NGOs, government representatives and EU officials will search for solutions to key water problems, like how to safeguard the availability of good quality water against a backdrop of rapid population growth and ever more apparent climate change. Organisations and companies will showcase best practices at a 52-stand exhibition, and numerous side events include screenings of the films “La Soif du monde”, "Oceans", and “Africa Turns Green”. The week also features the European Business Awards for the Environment, which honour innovative companies that successfully combine innovation, competitiveness and outstanding environmental performance, and the 3rd European Water Conference, a high-level stakeholder event.

21/05/2012: "20 years of protecting nature in Europe"

Speech by Commissioner Janez POTOČNIK, Celebrating the 20 Years' anniversary of the Habitats Directive, Natura 2000 and the LIFE Regulation, Denmark

21/05/2012: Celebrating 20 years of EU nature protection

Today is the 20th anniversary of two key instruments for the conservation and sustainable use of nature in the EU: the Habitats Directive and LIFE, the EU financing programme for the environment. Twenty years ago, EU Member States unanimously adopted the Habitats Directive to safeguard the most threatened species and habitats across Europe. This was in response to concerns over rapidly declining wildlife and loss of natural habitats, resulting from land-use changes, pollution and urban sprawl. To give species and habitats space to recover, the Directive set up the Natura 2000 network of protected areas and the LIFE financial instrument has provided strategic support to its development.

15/05/2012: "Unlocking the potential of Europe's forests – The path towards green growth"

Speech by Commissioner Janez POTOČNIK, ThinkForest high-level seminar towards a green bio-economy, Brussels

14/05/2012: Commission to address water challenges via innovation partnership

The European Commission today proposed to boost innovation to deal with water related challenges by creating a European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Water. The partnership will bring together all relevant actors across borders and sectors, such as the water sector, small and medium sized enterprises, the research community, local governments, water-using industries, and the financial sector to accelerate the development and uptake of innovative solutions to water challenges. A Strategic Implementation Plan will be developed with key stakeholders to define the priority areas for action. The EIP on Water will seek to align the activities and outcomes of existing European, national and regional activities.

10/05/2012: "Addressing soil contamination, land take and soil sealing: good for the environment, good for the economy"

Speech by Commissioner Janez POTOČNIK, Conference on Soil remediation and soil sealing, Brussels, 10 May 2012

08/05/2012: €34.8 million in new funding to bring environmental solutions to market

The European Commission is launching a €34.8 million call for eco-innovation projects. Businesses and entrepreneurs from across Europe can apply for funding to help bring novel environmental projects to the market. The call is open to eco-innovative products, techniques, services and processes that aim to prevent or reduce environmental impacts, or which contribute to the optimal use of resources. The call for applications is open until 6 September 2012, and around 50 projects will be selected for funding.

07/05/2012: Joint statement by the Danish EU Presidency and Commissioner Potočnik welcoming new international agreement to tackle air pollution

Today the EU reached an international agreement to update the Gothenburg Protocol, setting more ambitious targets to reduce trans-boundary air pollution. The revised objectives of the Protocol will see a reduction in EU emissions of around 60% for sulphur, 40% for nitrogen oxides (NOx), 30% for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), 6% for ammonia and 20% for particulate matter compared to 2005 levels. There's also agreement to act on so called 'Black Carbon', a pollutant with short-lived climate forcing characteristics.

26/04/2012: Commission asks Court to impose financial penalties on four Member States, urges Belgium to comply with EU waste legislation

The European Commission is referring Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia to the EU Court of Justice for failing to meet the December 2010 deadline to transpose the EU's Waste Framework Directive into national law. On the recommendation of Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik, the European Commission is asking the Court to impose penalty payments on the four countries in question.

26/04/2012: Commission asks Austria to comply with EU legislation on environmental impact assessments

The European Commission is urging Austria to bring its national legislation on environmental impact assessment into line with EU rules. The Commission is concerned that the potential environmental effects of a development to an Austrian ski-run were not assessed as required by EU law. On the recommendation of Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik, the Commission is therefore sending Austria a reasoned opinion. In the absence of a satisfactory response within two months, the Commission may refer the case to the EU Court of Justice.

24/04/2012: "The economy and the environment are deeply interlinked"

Speech by Commissioner Janez POTOČNIK, Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union, Copenhagen

23/04/2012: Global Outlook Report looks at worldwide efforts in promoting Sustainable Consumption and Production

Successful initiatives to promote sustainable consumption and production are flourishing around the globe, but further efforts are needed to embed such practices in existing policy frameworks, according to a new Global Outlook Report published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in collaboration with the European Commission. The Report released today at Stockholm+40, an event marking the 40th anniversary of the UN Conference on the Human Environment, presents an overview of efforts worldwide to shift towards sustainable consumption and production (SCP) patterns. The aim is to identify and share promising examples of effective policies and to propose recommendations to help support for SCP move ahead.