EC “Budget for Europe 2020″ – Environment

POLICY
The European Union’s environmental policy contributes to the Europe 2020 objectives of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Investments in environmental protection are investments in the modernisation of our societies and will help to transform Europe into a knowledge-based, resource-efficient economy. They are indispensable for protecting and improving the quality of the environment.
Greening the economy entails reducing environmental costs through the more efficient use of resources, thereby contributing to growth, competitiveness and job creation. Protecting biodiversity – our natural capital – and strengthening the resilience of ecosystems will make an important contribution to our sustainable growth objectives. Ecosystems provide food, fresh water, raw materials and many other benefits, thereby contributing to productivity and quality of life and reducing public health bills. The restoration of ecosystems and the services they provide contribute to the green economy through new skills, jobs and business opportunities, by boosting innovation and by contributing to climate change challenges mitigation and adaptation.
The value added of working together at European level to achieve common environmental goals is widely recognised, since environmental issues are not confined within national borders. Working closely with the EU’s neighbours and with emerging economies is a prerequisite for a greener Europe. Environmental sustainability is also one of the Millennium Development Goals, to which the EU is committed.
In addition to the benefits of European environmental legislation, the EU budget can contribute to environmental objectives, both through dedicated programmes and by ensuring that environmental objectives are firmly embedded in all the activities supported by the EU budget.

INSTRUMENTS
>Mainstreaming
Environmental policy priorities will be ‘mainstreamed’ into all the major EU funding instruments, including cohesion, agriculture, maritime and fisheries, research and innovation, as well as into external aid programmes. This approach will maximise synergies between environmental policies and other areas, recognising that the same actions can and should pursue a variety of complementary objectives. This approach will also help to avoid a proliferation of programmes and to minimise administrative burden.
•Agriculture. A major objective of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is to promote environmental objectives through the greening of direct payments to farmers. 30% of direct payments will be made conditional on respect for a range of environmental best practices, over and above existing cross-compliance obligations. In addition, rural development under the CAP will be further re-focused on delivering public goods, including through agri-environment measures. These measures will help to ensure that the EU agricultural sector is sustainable and a key provider of environmental public goods such as clean water, biodiversity, soil protection, cleaner air and landscape protection. This will also contribute to the achievement of the EU’s climate objectives, both on mitigation and adaptation.
•Maritime and Fisheries Policy. Environmental sustainability will be at the heart of the future maritime and fisheries policy. This will be achieved inter alia through reducing overfishing and overcapacity and reducing direct impacts (such as by-catch or impact on the sea bottom), as well as supporting marine-protected areas. The Integrated Maritime Policy will further define the boundaries of sustainability of human activities that have an impact on the marine environment as part of the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.
•Cohesion policy. Cohesion policy will be given a stronger focus on the Europe 2020 priorities, including making the EU a more resource efficient, green and competitive economy. This will be achieved through a strong focus on results and conditionality, including in relation to environmental objectives. These objectives include promoting the implementation of the environmental acquis (water, waste, marine, nitrates, Industrial Emissions Directive, air quality, flood legislation) and funding the related environmental infrastructure; protecting and restoring biodiversity and ecosystem services, including through the development of green infrastructures and reducing and preventing desertification. Environmental proofing will be strengthened as part of cohesion policy.
•Research and innovation. The new Common Strategic Framework for Research and Innovation will contribute to catalysing the scientific and technological breakthroughs needed for the transition to a resource efficient economy. Continuing financial support for eco-innovation more broadly will also help to deliver smart and sustainable growth. Innovation partnerships will have a direct impact on resource efficiency, for instance on water, ecosystems, raw materials, and smart cities.
•In external action, the Pre-Accession Instrument will help candidates to finance the environmental infrastructure and capacity building needed to respect the EU acquis. Through policy dialogue at the regional and national level, the Commission will continue to mainstream support for environment under the European Neighbourhood Instrument. Environment should also be further mainstreamed into aid programmes for developing countries. Biodiversity and ecosystems are key global public goods and will be part of the planned thematic programme for global public goods and challenges. The Lisbon Treaty gives the EU a stronger role to play in multilateral environmental agreements and international environmental governance, which will be reflected in enhanced funding.

>A dedicated instrument for Environment and Climate Action
In addition to mainstreaming, the Commission proposes to continue the LIFE+ programme and to align it more closely to Europe 2020 objectives. As is the case under the current programming period, the new instrument will cover within one programme a variety of actions in the areas of environment and climate action.
Under the Environment sub-programme12, the instrument will focus on two types of project: new Integrated Projects, the number and financial share of which will gradually increase over the lifetime of the programme; and “traditional” projects. The Commission considers that integrated projects can play an essential role as a catalyst for achieving goals such as the protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems, effective management of the Natura 2000 network, the promotion of environmental governance, waste and water management and to effectively mobilise other funds to these ends. Projects will continue to be selected for their EU added value and potential for transfer of know-how.
LIFE Integrated Projects are designed to demonstrate the sustainable implementation of environmental action plans13 relating to major EU environmental directives, such as the Habitats Directive or the Water Framework Directive. Integrated Projects will support a series of specific activities and measures. Additional funding for these projects will be sourced from other EU funding programmes as well as national, regional and private sector funds and will be jointly directed towards the environmental objectives. LIFE funding would thus act as a catalyst, ensuring consistency and a strategic environmental focus, exploiting synergies to the full and more structured cooperation with other EU funds will be established through the Common Strategic Framework.
The Environment sub-programme will be organised according to the following priorities:
(a)LIFE Biodiversity, while still focusing on Natura 2000 and on the development and sharing of best practices in relation to biodiversity, will also target wider biodiversity challenges in line with the Europe 2020 biodiversity strategy target to maintain and restore ecosystems and their services;
(b)LIFE Environment will focus on supporting the implementation of EU environmental policy by the public and private sectors and in particular the implementation of environmental legislation relevant to the Europe 2020 resource efficiency objectives (such as the Water Framework Directive or the Waste Framework Directive).
(c)LIFE Governance will support the creation of platforms for the exchange of best practices for improved compliance with EU environmental policy priorities and enforcement, policy development and knowledge-based decision-making (e.g., wide dissemination of project results), with an emphasis on good governance. This strand will also support environmental NGOs and promote awareness-raising, advocacy and dissemination of environmental information, as these are inextricably linked to achieving good governance and full implementation and compliance.

>Financing biodiversity
Financing the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 202014 requires mainstreaming biodiversity throughout the EU budget, both within the EU via the main funding instruments and through external action funding. To increase the efficiency of EU spending, it is also important to maximise synergies with climate finance through funding ecosystem-based adaptation and mitigation projects that also provide wider ecosystem services, both within the EU and externally.
The effective management and restoration of Natura 2000 protected areas is central to the attainment of the Europe 2020 target of halting and reversing the decline of biodiversity in the EU set by the European Council in 2010. At EU level, a strengthened integrated approach using the various EU sectoral funds, ensuring their consistency with the priorities of the Natura 2000 action frameworks, together with an enhanced LIFE Biodiversity strand, will provide a strong basis for the new Natura 2000 financing strategy.
Externally, the EU committed itself, along with other participating parties, at the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP10) in October 2010 in Nagoya, to increasing substantially the mobilisation of financial resources for global biodiversity by 2020. Funding from the EU budget will be provided through the geographic and regional allocations of the EU’s external action programmes as well as through the thematic programme for global public goods.
In addition to mainstreaming biodiversity into the external action budget, the Commission is also proposing the creation of a mechanism/fund outside the budget to pool together contributions from the Member States and the EU budget.

IMPLEMENTATION
>Mainstreaming
Mainstreaming will be delivered via the structures and instruments described elsewhere in the sectoral policy fiches. In order to ensure the delivery of results, there will be clearly established benchmarks, monitoring and reporting rules for all relevant EU policy instruments, with appropriate indicators.
To maximise synergies between different policy objectives, a tracking procedure for environment-related expenditure similar to that proposed for climate-related expenditure is envisaged.
As regards biodiversity, the ‘Rio markers’ established by the OECD and already used by the Commission for external instruments will be integrated in the existing methodology for measuring performance used for EU programmes. They will also help to demonstrate the co-benefits of climate and biodiversity expenditures, and to highlight the biodiversity co-benefits of climate spending on REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) actions.

>A specific instrument for Environment and Climate Action
The current LIFE+ programme is managed by the Commission in direct centralised management mode. The Commission considers that the future programme should remain centrally managed, but that management tasks could to a large extent be delegated to an existing executive agency. The extent, conditions and terms of the delegation will have to take into account the need for the Commission to maintain strong policy links as regards Integrated Projects.

PROPOSED BUDGET ALLOCATION FOR 2014-2020
All figures in constant 2011 prices. Excludes funds for mainstreaming which are included within the budgetary allocations for sectoral funding instruments.
LIFE+ Programme (environment sub-programme) €2.4 bn

12) See separate fiche on Climate Action policy for the proposed features of the Climate Action sub-programme.
13) Environmental action plans are plans or programmes for the implementation of a specific environmental policy as required by EU environment Directives (e.g., a Prioritised Action Framework under the Habitats Directive, a River Basin Management Plan under the Water Framework Directive, waste minimisation plan under the Waste Framework Directive, air pollution abatement plan to meet the air quality requirements of the CAFÉ legislation, etc.) or developed by the authorities in line with EU recommendations (e.g., a sustainable urban plan, integrated coastal zone management plans etc.).
14) COM(2011) 244.