The European Commission has presented EU's flagship initiative for a resource-efficient Europe, which provides a long-term framework for actions in many policy areas, supporting policy agendas for climate change, energy, transport, industry, raw materials, agriculture, fisheries, biodiversity and regional development. This strategy is the seventh and last of the Europe 2020 flagship initiatives which aim at building smart, sustainable and inclusive growth for Europe.

Pressures on resources, which include raw materials such as fuels, minerals and metals but also food, soil, water, air, biomass and ecosystems, are increasing dramatically all over the world. If current trends continue, by 2050, the global population is expected to have grown by 30% to around 9 billion, and meeting all population expectations for welfare and consumption will put even more pressure on the available resources.

In response to these changes, increasing resource efficiency will be key to securing growth and jobs for Europe. It will bring major economic opportunities, improve productivity, drive down costs and boost competitiveness. This is the key idea which lies under the new EU Strategy for a Resource-efficient Europe put forward by the European Commission as part of the flagship initiatives which make up the Europe 2020 Strategy for Jobs and Growth.

Using resources more efficiently will help Europe to achieve many of the objectives already fixed in may areas. It will be key in making progress to deal with climate change and to achieve our target of reducing EU greenhouse gas emissions by 80 to 95% by 2050. It is needed to protect valuable ecological assets, the services they provide and the quality of life for present and future generations.

A key aim of this flagship initiative is also to increase certainty for investment and innovation by forging an agreement on the long-term vision and ensuring that all relevant policies factor in resource efficiency in a balanced manner. It is important to sharpen the focus on the action that has to be taken in the next ten years to put Europe on the right track and to speed up the transition.

Specific resource-efficient initiatives to be tabled in 2011

• A low-carbon economy roadmap 2050
• A 2020 energy efficiency plan
• A white paper on the future of transport
• An energy roadmap 2050
• A roadmap for a resource-efficient Europe
• Reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy, the Common Fisheries Policy, Cohesion Policy, energy infrastructure and trans-European transport networks
• A new EU biodiversity strategy for 2020
• Measures regarding commodity markets and on raw materials.

This flagship initiative will help build a strategic and integrated approach which will ensure that concrete actions already decided for 2020 pave the way towards longer-term goals for 2050 and that appropriate further action is taken to achieve our objectives. As foreseen by the Commission, it will ensure that Europe optimises the synergies inherent in such a broad-based strategy, and that it identifies and tackles the trade-offs as part of well-informed policy making.