Eurobrief July

A recently conducted Eurobarometer poll (Flash 256) entitled ‘Europeans’ attitudes towards the issue of sustainable consumption and production’ has explored the views that European citizens hold on product sustainability.

Jo Leinen, the veteran socialist MEP, has been appointed chair of the new European Parliament’s Environment Committee.

The Commission presented a new working document to the Agriculture and Fisheries Council about adapting policy to the pressures resulting from climate change on 13 July.

A new report by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s (WBCSD) Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) has put forward a target of ‘zero landfill’ of concrete via concrete recycling.

‘Only a small proportion of vulnerable habitats and species protected under EU law have achieved good conservation status’...

The Major Economies Forum (MEF) which met alongside the G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy on 9 July 2009 and gathered leaders of all the world’s major greenhouse gas emitters failed to agree on a long-term goal to halve global emissions by 2050.

The new Swedish Presidency of the EU put the environment at the heart of its priorities for its six-month spell as chair of the European Council.