June

• 28.06.2007
  Stringent environmental protection requirements for CO2 storage under the seabed. On a Norwegian initiative, the riparian states of the North-East Atlantic have agreed on an important step for the introduction of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. At a meeting in Ostend, Belgium, the representatives of the countries adopted a set of regulations on storing CO2 streams from industrial processes under the seabed. The agreement was achieved at the end of the German EU Presidency, following difficult negotiations among the 12 participating EU Member States and the EU Commission.
• 19.06.2007
  Gabriel: New findings on the effects of radiation on humans should be given greater consideration. Radiation may have a greater impact on humans than previously believed. At a conference on new findings on the effects of ionising radiation in Berlin, Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel called for the new knowledge to be implemented swiftly into radiation protection law and enforced in practice. "All the new facts must be thoroughly examined in order to clearly establish whether our existing protection systems still properly and appropriately reflect the status of knowledge," said Gabriel. "Where this is not the case, we must act without delay". The minister stressed that this is a matter of meeting environmental policy's basic obligation to take timely and appropriate precautionary action against environmental and health risks, and applies to radiation protection law at both European and national level.
• 18.06.2007
  Species Protection Conference decides on 9-Year Moratorium on Ivory Trade. Thanks to mediation by Germany and the European Union, the international community has agreed on a 9-year moratorium on ivory trade. This breakthrough was achieved last night during negotiations of the African states and adopted unanimously by the Conference of the Parties in Den Haag this morning. Matthias Machnig, State Secretary at the Federal Environment Ministry and representative of the German EU Presidency, welcomed the result: “This is a huge success for the protection of elephants. The 9-year moratorium on ivory trade is linked with clear procedures and standards.”
• 18.06.2007
  Efforts to gain stricter protection for sharks fail. The European Union's proposal for stricter protection for sharks failed to be adopted at the species protection conference in The Hague. Head of the German delegation, Jochen Flasbarth, expressed his disappointment in the outcome. "A majority of fishing nations established a link between the shark proposals and the discussions on the whaling moratorium in the International Whaling Commission (IWC). We were within reach of a solution on the cape shark, but this was wrecked in the last minute by the bloc of fishing nations, after the EU stood by its position on the whaling moratorium."
• 08.06.2007
  Astrid Klug: Reducing emissions from construction products improves indoor air. "We spent 80 to 90 per cent of our time indoors – and yet we know little about the detrimental effects on our health we are exposed to, for example through emissions from construction products. Therefore, analysing and assessing indoor air and reducing its pollution is a significant contribution to the quality of life," underlined Astrid Klug, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Environment Ministry, at the conclusion of the two-day EU conference on Construction Products and Indoor Air Quality in Berlin.
• 04.06.2007
  Fish, whales, tropical wood: the conference in The Hague focuses on the conservation of endangered species. The conservation of endangered marine species and of whales, the future of the ban on ivory trade and measures to control illegal trade with tropical wood are key topics of this year's CITES Conference of the Parties, which started today in The Hague. During the conference, which will last until 15 June, about 40 proposals to place species under the Convention’s protection or review whether they still require special protection will be discussed. This is the first time the Conference of the Parties to the Convention will include a ministerial segment. The ministerial segment will focus on the aims and prospects of the Convention over the next years, based on the examples of tropical wood and marine species. Matthias Machnig, State Secretary of the Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety will represent the German Government within the framework of the EU Presidency. Mr Machnig will participate in the conference on 12 and 13 June.
• 02.06.2007
  European industrial policy needs to become more ecological. In the face of climate change, the EU Environment Ministers have called for a restructuring of European industrial policy. The European Union needs to place greater focus on improving energy and resource efficiency, promoting eco-innovations and accelerating the spread of environmental technologies in all sectors. “Not only do we want to make the European Union the most competitive economy in the world, we also want to be pioneers in resource efficiency and ecological innovation,” stated Federal Environment Minister Gabriel at the end of the informal meeting in Essen. Chaired by Minister Gabriel, the EU’s 27 Environment Ministers held discussions over 2 days on an ecological industrial policy for Europe.
• 01.06.2007
  Sigmar Gabriel opens the Informal Meeting. Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel today in Essen opened the Informal Meeting of EU Environment Ministers under Germany’s Council Presidency. The focus of this three-day meeting will be on the links between environmental protection, innovation and employment. The meeting will also be attended by the environment ministers from the EFTA states (Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland) and from the candidate countries Turkey, Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs and Environment Director-General Mogens Peter Carl (on behalf of Commissioner Dimas, who is unable to attend due to illness) will represent the European Commission at the meeting. UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner will also attend. At the same time as the ministerial meeting, a public environmental trade fair - ECOTEC - will take place at the Zeche Zollverein site. Numerous companies will present their products and services in the field of innovative environmental technologies.

top

May

• 12.05.2007
  15th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development -- Joint Press Statement by Sigmar Gabriel, German Federal Minister for the Environment, representing the EU-Presidency and Stavros Dimas, European Commissioner for the Environment. The European Union (EU) deeply regrets that the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was unable to agree on a ambitious text on energy, climate, air pollution and industrial development. The 15th annual session of the CSD met in New York in order to bring forward the commitments on sustainable development made in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation agreed in 2002.
• 07.05.2007
  Under the German Presidency, the EU wants to lay the foundations in Bonn for a successful Climate Change Conference in Bali. An international climate protection conference under the umbrella of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will be opened in Bonn today. Representatives of about 160 states will use the next two weeks to prepare, at working level, the Climate Change Conference which is to take place in Bali in December. At the meeting in Bonn, the EU under the German Presidency wants to lay the foundations for an agreement on the launch of a negotiation process in December. The objective of the EU is to make sure that the 13th Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change, which will also be the 3rd Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, will decide on the start of a global and comprehensive negotiations about a climate protection agreement for the post-2012 period with a view to ensure that global average temperature will not exceed pre-industrial levels by more than 2°C. The goal is to con-clude, by 2009, negotiations on a new agreement which ensures that there is no gap after the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.
• 03.05.2007
  Electrical and Electronic Equipment: Towards Harmonising Producer Registration. The diverging implementation of Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment (“WEEE”) in the EU member states leads to considerable cost and effort for producers. Registration of producers and importers is a vital instrument to protect competition from companies that try to avoid their disposal commitments. However, currently companies acting legally on the European market are confronted with more than 27 different registers and the respective registration requirements.

top

April

• 26.04.2007
  Gabriel: flood control in Europe on the right road. Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel has welcomed the Decision of the European Parliament for a harmonised European procedure in precautionary flood control and flood risk management. In the second reading, the MEPs confirmed with a large majority a compromise directive between the Council and the Parliament, negotiated under the German EU Presidency: "This Decision avoids a conciliation procedure and establishes the conditions needed for the EU regulations to enter into force before the end of this year. Flood control is a joint and urgent problem for all the Member States and close cooperation is vital, especially on account of the many transboundary rivers," said Gabriel, who also holds the Chair of the EU Environment Council.
• 23.04.2007
  Astrid Klug: making EU agricultural policy nature friendly. Sustainable and ecological land use is the basic prerequisite for the preservation of valuable cultural landscapes and hence of Europe's biological diversity. This was stressed today in Bonn by Parliamentary State Secretary Astrid Klug at the opening of the conference "Nature Conservation, Agriculture and Rural Development – where is the EU headed?" The two-day conference hosted by the Federal Environment Ministry is taking place in the framework of the German EU Presidency. "If we want to achieve the international goal of halting the continuing loss of biological diversity by 2010," said Astrid Klug, "we still need to make substantial efforts in many sectors. The EU's agricultural policy continues to have a large influence on the form of land use and thus also a decisive influence on our environment."
• 19.04.2007
  Europe and its neighbours join forces to promote renewable energies and energy efficiency. As awareness grows of humankind's hand in climate change, the question of how Europe and its neighbours are to ensure a secure supply of energy in future has become the focus of increasing public attention. The German government has made energy one of the major issues of its EU Presidency. In order to accord renewable energies and energy efficiency a greater role in European neighbourhood policy, German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul and German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel are hosting a ministerial conference in Berlin as part of Germany's EU Presidency.
• 17.04.2007
  Renewable energies and energy efficiency for the EU's southern and eastern neighbours. As exporters and transit countries, the EU's neighbouring countries are vital for Europe's energy supply. At the same time, the efficient use of available energy resources and the massive expansion of alternative energies are vital to achieving sustainable energy security and development in the EU's neighbouring states. In the framework of Germany's EU Presidency, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Federal Environment Ministry (BMU) are organising the ministerial conference "Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency for the EU's Southern and Eastern Neighbours". Following the successful decisions in the European Council, the aim is to also anchor sustainable energy policy in the neighbouring countries of the EU.
• 11.04.2007
  Invitation to the International Conference „Energy Efficiency: Shaping Tomorrow's World“ on 20/21 April 2007 in Berlin. The international conference "Energy Efficiency: Shaping Tomorrow's World" will take place on 20/21 April 2007 in Berlin within the framework of the EU Council Presidency. At the conference Ministers from EU Member States, G8 countries and large emerging economies will together with international experts discuss strategies and objectives to improve energy efficiency. Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, Michael Glos, and Federal Minister of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs, Wolfgang Tiefensee, will open the conference and give a press conference.

top

March

• 29.03.2007
  Opening of European conference on putting environmental and resource protection to use for conflict prevention and development. Michael Müller, Parliamentary State Secretary in the German Environment Ministry, Georg Boomgarden, State Secretary of the Federal Foreign Office, and Karin Kortmann, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, today jointly opened a European conference on putting environmental and resource protection to use for conflict prevention and development. The goal of the conference is to draw up recommendations for action addressed to EU institutions, with a view to better mainstreaming environment and security in the various strategies and policies of the EU. Parliamentary State Secretary Michael Müller particularly emphasized the link between the current efforts for more climate protection and greater efficiency in the use of energy and raw materials as well as the promotion of renewable energy on the one hand and peacebuilding and conflict prevention on the other.
• 28.03.2007
  1.9 billion euro for the environment in Europe. Under the chairmanship of Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel, in Brussels yesterday the Conciliation Committee of the European Parliament and the Council achieved agreement on the EU environmental funding programme LIFE+. "I am delighted that together we have succeeded in reaching agreement on LIFE+. The result is a major gain for European environmental protection and nature conservation," said Federal Environment Minister Gabriel at the end of the negotiations.

top

February

• 23.02.2007
  Europe is moving offshore: member states discuss electricity generation from offshore wind energy. Participants in an EU Workshop in Berlin voiced their support for better framework conditions for offshore wind energy deployment in Europe and joint projects by the Member States. Michael Müller, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Environment Ministry said “Our offshore wind power technology is still in its infancy. This workshop has shown the important role of joint projects between the Member States in promoting an economically and ecologically sound development.” At the invitation of the Federal Environment Ministry, around 100 representatives of European governments, the EU Commission, the wind power industry and the scientific community from 12 EU Member States took part in the workshop, which ended today.
• 22.02.2007
  State Secretary Matthias Machnig: expanding EU cooperation with Black Sea countries. Environment ministers from 16 Danube and Black Sea countries will meet tomorrow (Friday 23rd February) in Bucharest. The conference will discuss the opportunities and challenges for the protection of the Danube River and the Black Sea arising from the accession of Rumania and Bulgaria to the EU. "In the framework of the EU Presidency, we will support the significant expansion of EU cooperation with the Black Sea countries," said Matthias Machnig, State Secretary in the Federal Environment Ministry, who will participate in the conference on behalf of Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel.
• 20.02.2007
  Gabriel: Decision by the Environment Council is a historic step for climate protection. Today the Environment Council, meeting in Brussels under the German Presidency, adopted ambitious climate protection goals up to 2020 and an EU negotiation package for a post-2012 climate protection agreement. “With the adoption of climate protection goals and the negotiation package, the EU has reaffirmed its leading role in climate protection. This is a signal to the international community that the EU wants to make a fair and appropriate contribution in the framework of an international climate protection agreement. This is a historic step forward, enabling us to break the deadlock at international level”, stated Minister Gabriel, who led the ministerial meeting as current Chair of the Council.
• 12.02.2007
  Water balance and water uses: Adaptation to climate change becoming essential. “We must learn to consistently take the impacts of climate change, especially on the water balance, into account when making long-term decisions, for example with regard to infrastructure or regional development. This applies as much to shipping routes as it does to water supply and wastewater management, coastal defence and flood control, the development of tourism centres and to electricity generation.” Sigmar Gabriel, Federal Environment Minister and President of the EU Environment Council stressed this at the opening of the Symposium in the framework of the German EU Presidency, which he is co-hosting with EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas.

top

January

• 29.01.2007
  Minister Gabriel advocates new European energy and climate policy. Federal Environment Minister Gabriel today stressed the significance of renewable energies for energy and climate protection policy. “The rapid expansion of renewables in Europe to a 20% share by the year 2020 will make a major contribution to achieving our future climate protection goals. This, together with increasing energy efficiency by 20% within the same period, is one of the fundamental pillars of Europe’s new integrated energy and climate policy. We advocate the European Council on 8/9 March agreeing a binding overall target of 20% renewables for the EU”, stated Minister Gabriel at the opening of the first European Energy Week of the EU Commission in Brussels.

top