EU Council adopts 8th environmental action programme

The Council today adopted its position on the 8th Environmental Action Programme (EAP). The 8th EAP will serve as a guide for environmental policymaking and implementation until 2030. The adoption of the Council’s position follows a provisional agreement reached with the European Parliament in December 2021 and is the final step of the adoption procedure.

The 8th EAP aims to accelerate the green transition in a just and inclusive way, with the 2050 long-term objective of ‘Living well, within the planetary boundaries’.

The six thematic priority objectives of the 8th EAP concern: greenhouse gas emissions reductions, adaptation to climate change, a regenerative growth model, a zero-pollution ambition, protecting and restoring biodiversity, and reducing key environmental and climate impacts related to production and consumption.

The Council and the Parliament agreed on several enabling conditions for achieving the priority objectives, in particular:

- decreasing the EU’s material and consumption footprints

- strengthening environmentally positive incentives

- phasing out environmentally harmful subsidies, in particular fossil fuel subsidies.           

The co-legislators also agreed to include in the 8th EAP a mid-term review in 2024 of the progress achieved in reaching its thematic priority objectives. Following this review, the Commission should, if appropriate, submit a legislative proposal to add an annex to the 8th EAP, which contains a list and timeline of actions for the period after 2025.