From Cardiff to Helsinki and beyond
Report to the European Council on integrating environmental concerns and sustainable
development into Community policies
SEC (99)1941
This report is the Commission’s contribution to the review by the Helsinki European Council of overall progress on the integration of environmental concerns and sustainable development into Community policies, and will suggest further action on the basis of the Council integration strategies, the Commission’s Global Assessment of the 5th Environmental Action Programme and the Commission’s coordinated report on indicators.
This report mainly focuses on progress in the Council formations which have been invited by the European Council to prepare strategies for environmental integration. Integration does however also concern a wider range of policy areas some of which are covered by Annex II.
Current perspectives for the Community’s environment show that there is a need to improve environmental performance across all sectors of activity. While in some areas progress has been achieved, a number of worrying trends still exist. This situation is confirmed in the recent State of the Environment report by the European Environment Agency. Future progress towards an improved environment and more generally sustainable development, including social and economic concerns, will require a more integrated approach to policy making. Climate change is a key area where integration of environmental aspects and sustainable development is essential to achieve progress. The predicted implications of climate change on agriculture, industry, land and property represent a severe threat to sustained economic growth. Over the last years we have seen some positive developments in greenhouse gas emissions. This positive trend is not likely to continue in all sectors. The only way to reverse the current growth trend particularly in CO2 emissions is through integrating real changes into the economic policies, which determine our use of energy.
Beyond the EC Treaty and Kyoto Protocol commitments, by endorsing the Programme for the further implementation of Agenda 21 as agreed in the 19th Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly the Community committed itself to developing a strategy on sustainable development by 2002. Sustainable development cannot be achieved without environment measures but these measures on their own will not be enough. It is necessary to strengthen the integration of environmental requirements into sectoral policies, which can contribute to addressing them at their origins in the economic forces which shape our society.
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