Valuable materials are leaking from our economies. In a world where demand and competition for finite and sometimes scarce resources will continue to increase, and pressure on resources is causing greater environmental degradation and fragility, Europe can benefit economically and environmentally from making better use of those resources.
Having a decent job is widely recognised as the best way out of poverty. The private sector provides some 90 per cent of jobs in developing countries, and is thus an essential partner in the fight against poverty.
The EU has a clear framework to steer its energy and climate policies up to 2020. This framework integrates different policy objectives such as reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, securing energy supply and supporting growth, competitiveness and jobs through a high technology, cost effective and resource efficient approach.
This Communication summarizes the state of play of CCS development and identifies the barriers that have prevented the technology from progressing in Europe at the pace initially foreseen in 2007.
This technical summary on the implementation of comprehensive risk and safety assessments of nuclear power plants in the EU says that European NPPs have generally high safety standards but further improvements are needed in all of them.
On 4 October 2012, the European Commission released the Communication on the results of the stress tests. This document highlights that European nuclear power plants have generally high safety standards but further improvements are needed in almost all of them.
The European Commission has unveiled its Energy Roadmap 2050, which aims to cut emissions by over 80% by 2050 without disrupting energy supplies and competitiveness.
The European Commission has published a strategy for the EU to protect and improve the state of Europe's biodiversity and contribute to the 2020 global biodiversity targets.
