The Council adopted conclusions on the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 focusing on the concrete measures required to achieve its main targets: protect species and habitats, maintain and restore ecosystems among others. In addition, Environment Ministers also adopted conclusions on the Roadmap to a Resource-Efficient Europe proposal.

The Environment Ministers meeting ended with the adoption of conclusions for the EU strategy on Biodiversity to 2020. The conclusions focuses on the concrete measures required to achieve its main targets: protect species and habitats, maintain and restore ecosystems, anchor biodiversity goals in other EU policies, combat invasive alien species, step up the EU's contribution to averting global biodiversity loss. Ministers already endorsed the Strategy in June. Most Member States agreed on the need to integrate biodiversity concerns in all sectoral policies, in order to reverse the continuing trends of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation.

In addition, the Ministers also adopted conclusions on the Roadmap to a Resource-Efficient Europe. The proposal, which was presented in September 2011, stresses that roadmap is a key element for the implementation of the flagship initiative “A resource-efficient Europe”, in the context of the Europe 2020 Strategy, which will lead the EU into economic transformation towards a more sustainable and competitive economy and contribute to the world-wide efforts to ensure a transition towards a greener economy.

On the other hand, the Council had an exchange of views on the outcome of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which took place from 28 November to 9 December in Durban, South Africa. Although most Member States welcomed the outcome of the Conference, it was also generally agreed that this was just a first step and that the EU must keep the pressure and pursue its efforts to secure a legal framework for climate action which should enter into force in 2020.