Environment Council: October 2016

Tuesday 8th November 2016 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Dr Thérèse Coffey)]

I attended the EU Environment Council in Luxembourg on 17 October along with the Minister for Climate Change and Industry, my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (Mr Hurd).

I wish to update the House on the matters discussed.

Effort share and land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF)

Ministers undertook a full round table debate of the Commission’s legislative proposals on the “non-ETS” package—the effort share regulation (ESR) and the land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) regulation, published in July 2016. The Commission strongly welcomed the EU’s ratification of the Paris agreement and supported a focus on implementation via agreement to both the ESR and EU emissions trading system (ETS) directive. Ministers exchanged comments on a number of the technical aspects of the proposals. The UK noted the importance of swift agreement to the proposals in the context of implementation of the Paris agreement and, along with several other member states, supported taking the effort share negotiations in parallel with discussion on the EU ETS.

Any other business—39th International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) assembly: information from the Commission.

The presidency congratulated the role of the EU and member states in brokering the recent agreement for aviation at the ICAO general assembly in Montreal. It noted the further work to be done on implementation and underlined the relevance of the deal for the EU’s aviation emissions trading system (ETS).

The Commission hailed the landmark aviation deal and underscored the global and non-discriminatory nature of the deal. On aviation ETS, the Commission said it would present a proposal in early 2017 following an analysis of the ICAO deal.

Sustainable water management—Council conclusions

Ministers supported the adoption of the Council conclusions on sustainable water management. The Commission welcomed the conclusions and explained that it would come forward with a proposal to revise the water framework directive (WFD) in 2019 which would include options for member states to maintain ambitious objectives. The UK and other member states all welcomed the call in the conclusions for the Commission to work with member states to develop options well before the 2019 WFD review to allow continued high ambition post-2027.

Convention on biological diversity (CBD)—Council conclusions

The presidency circulated a compromise text to its draft Council conclusions in order to prepare the EU position for the conferences of the parties to the convention on biological diversity, the Cartagena protocol and the Nagoya protocol, which is to be held on 4 to 17 December 2016 in Cancun, Mexico. The Council adopted these conclusions following the agreement of a revised compromise text.

AOB—CITES conference of the parties 17: information from the presidency and Commission

The Council was updated on the outcome of the 17th convention on international trade in endangered species conference of the parties in Johannesburg last month. The Commission and the UK welcomed the outcome, with the UK praising the science-based approach which was taken, such as maintaining ivory market closure through retaining annotations to the four southern African populations of elephants on appendix II.

AOB—lessons learnt from the national emissions ceiling (NEC): information from Poland, Romania and Hungary

Some member states raised concerns as to how negotiations were conducted in reaching provisional agreement on this directive. The Commission appreciated that there had been compromises to get to an agreement but welcomed the overall achievement in getting to this stage.

AOB—identification of endocrine disrupting substances; information from the Danish, Swedish and Dutch delegations

The Council took note of this AOB item. The Commission noted that a communication on this issue had been presented at June Environment Council and that the Commission was reflecting on comments before putting forward a revised text to member states.

Other AOBs:

The Council noted information from the Commission and the presidency on the 28th meeting of the parties (MOP28) to the Montreal protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer.

The Council noted information from the presidency on the 2016 world conservation congress of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The Council noted information from the Commission on a communication from the Commission on a European strategy for low-emission mobility.

The Council noted information from member state delegations on natural resources management on the example of the Bialowieza Forest (information from Poland); and unspent funds from the new entrants reserve (NER300) funding programme (information from Cyprus).

[HCWS241]