John Hontelez, EEB Secretary General, said, "The messages of the Commission's SDS progress report, although based on an impressive amount of work by Commission and member states, are very disappointing and a missed opportunity to challenge the European Council and Member States to finally make a move towards sustainable development."
The EEB has prepared a position paper on the 2007 EU SDS progress report, the main points of which have been outlined by John Hontelez, Secretary General of the EEB, in his letter to the Portuguese Presidency. The EEB's letter delineates several key areas set forth as requirements of the EU SDS that have not yet been achieved and require immediate action, including:
* phasing out harmful environmental subsidies;
* reforming environmental taxation, which was recognized by the SDS as necessary to reconcile environmental protection and smart economic growth;
* reducing the environmental impact of transport, now increasingly contributing to climate change; and
* halting the decline of biodiversity by 2010, which will require policies to limit urban sprawl and transport infrastructure, adapt to climate change, and move to cleaner agricultural practices.
The EEB also called upon the Presidency to achieve the following urgent goals related to successful implementation of the SDS, including:
* an effective programme to achieve sustainable production and consumption patterns. The EEB calls for an ambitious Commission Action Plan on this topic, which has an expected release date of early 2008;
* concretely addressing the Lisbon strategy and working on the basis of relevant conclusions of the June Environmental Council on ecological industrial innovation;
* setting the EU SDS as the lead framework for determining future EU Budgets; and
* recognising positive national developments that contribute to (the mobilisation of the public for) sustainable development and promote them for wider use.
