European Union News - Environmnet

More than 400 participants from 19 countries gathered in Ulm (Baden-Wurttemberg) on 2 February for the first conference on the development of an EU Strategy for the Danube region. This was the first in a series of consultation meetings by the Commission to shape the content of the Danube Strategy as requested by the European Council.

The Commission has opened a public consultation on the European Strategy for the Danube. Based on the strategy in the Baltic Sea Region, it is available until March 31.

The European Commission has officially announced the winner of the EU organic logo competition. Over the past two months, some 130,000 people have voted online to choose the new organic symbol from three finalists. The winning design is by Dusan Milenkovic, a student from Germany, who gained 63% of the overall vote for his “Euro-leaf” logo.

In its Communication entitled ‘Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES): we care for a safer planet’ , the Commission announced the establishment of a Partners Board to assist the Commission in the overall coordination of GMES. The Official Journal of the EU of February 8 has published the decision that creates this organ.

A European Commission study published today recommends setting up a dedicated European body to oversee the implementation and enforcement of EU waste law. The study is part of a series of steps being taken by the Commission to improve waste management and ensure it meets the standards set by EU legislation to protect citizens and the environment. A second report published today reveals that almost one fifth of waste shipments inspected as part of recent enforcement actions in Member States were illegal.

The European Union has formalised its support for the Copenhagen Accord on climate change and presented its commitments for emission reduction targets. In a joint letter with the Spanish Presidency of the Council, the European Commission has formally notified the EU's willingness to be associated with the Accord and submitted for information the EU's established greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for 2020.

The European Commission is organising a conference on 4 February in Brussels to mark 20 years of EU support for urban development. This will provide an opportunity to review the experience acquired since the launch of the URBAN initiative’s first pilot projects in 1989. The cohesion policy will invest a total of €10 billion in the period 2007-2013 in urban development throughout Europe.

The Institute for European Environmental Policy has published a report which is a first ever attempt to identify the full range of environmental public goods provided by farmers across Europe and sets out the arguments for paying for their delivery via the public purse.

Linking six Member States over its 3,000 km course, the Danube River has seen a long history of co-operation projects but a comprehensive EU strategy is still lacking. MEPs want the Commission to promote co-operation around the Danube region with the aim of developing environmentally-friendly transport connections and energy infrastructures, as well as stimulating economic and social growth.

The European Commission marked the opening of the International Year of Biodiversity with a paper setting out future options for biodiversity policy. Despite past efforts, species extinctions are continuing at alarming rates, and a new vision is required to halt these losses. The EU’s goal of stopping animal and plant extinctions by 2010 has not been reached. Now more action is planned – for proper long-term protection of biodiversity by 2020.

How extreme weather impacts the EU transportation system is a question that weighs heavily on the minds of policymakers and the general public. Enter the EWENT ('Extreme weather impacts on European networks of transport') project which aims to identify and define these extreme weather phenomena and their effects.