German Advisory Council on the Environment

Type:Environmental Report · date of issue 2020.07.03The future of European environmental policy

The European Green Deal put forward by the European Commission represents a new departure for environmental and climate protection policy. Environmental protection and sustainability are to be the guiding principles of European policy-making in the future. Ambitious goals will be set in order to initiate far-reaching environmental change.

At the same time, many of the challenges that have emerged in recent years will persist. Above all, the fact that existing European environmental legislation is often inadequately implemented and enforced at member state level. Moreover, environmental and climate protection are still not sufficiently integrated into other policy areas, such as agricultural and transport policy. The ecological transition should therefore incorporate and further develop elements of the preceding reform debate. The German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU) welcomes in the chapter “The future of European environmental policy” that is part of the Environment Report, the fact that environmental and climate protection are to be given high priority in future and recommends that the opportunity presented by the European Green Deal should be seized. The 8th Environmental Action Programme (EAP) should be formulated in such a way as to serve as a benchmark for the necessary environmental improvements. The EU should strengthen sustainability on an institutional level by transforming the European Economic and Social Committee into a Sustainability Committee.

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