Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV)
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Environmental Policy Research Centre (FFU)
An important objective for the German Presidency of the EU Council that began in spring 2007 was to bring greater focus on the notion that an active programme of environmental protection also makes good economic sense. Intensive preparations were therefore made on this topic in various EU committees and this work was then brought to bear at the informal Council of Environment Ministers held in June 2007 in Essen. And the negotiations were successful: EU Member States agreed that appropriate environmental policy measures are a good way of supporting European competitiveness and that additional concrete efforts are required in this regard.
adelphi assisted the Federal Ministry for the Environment in preparing the content of the meeting of environment ministers and collaborated in drawing up a working paper that formed the basis of the ministers’ discussions. The paper illustrates the opportunities associated with an ecological industrial policy within Europe and describes the strengths and weaknesses of current EU policies as regards utilising the potential for growth offered by the environmental restructuring of the European economy (improved energy and resource efficiency, widespread use of renewable energy, etc.). The document also identifies important activities that the EU could perform in the future to make use of this potential and outlines a comprehensive strategy in terms of a European ecological industrial policy.