HL Deb 26 June 1997 vol 580 cc187-8WA
Lord Gladwin of Clee

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What was the outcome of the Environment Council on 19 and 20 June 1997.

Baroness Hayman

My right honourable friend the Minister for the Environment represented the United Kingdom at the Environment Council which took place in Luxembourg on 19 and 20 June.

The Council reached a common position on two major directives which will reduce air pollution from vehicles. These two directives form part of the so called "Auto-oil programme" and will set new fuel and car standards for 2000 and prospectively for 2005. The Council also reached political agreement on a directive to tackle the problems caused by the emission of volatile organic compounds from industrial and commercial processes. This directive aims to reduce emission levels by 50 per cent. and was agreed unanimously. It will now go forward for a common position once the opinion of the European Parliament has been given.

The Council further developed the Community's negotiating position for the preparatory meetings for the Third Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Kyoto, Japan, in December this year. Following the decision at the March Environment Council on a target for 2010, the Council agreed that the EU should propose that development countries should reduce emissions of the main greenhouse gases to at least 7.5 per cent. below 1990 levels by 2005. The Council also supported our call for action by the Commission to investigate and bring forward proposals for tackling the potential problems caused by self-chilling cans.

The Council also agreed that at the 9th Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol in Montreal in September the European Community should propose that consumption of methyl bromide in developed countries should be reduced to 50 per cent. of 1991 levels by 2001 and phased out in 2005, with exemptions for critical uses. The present phase-out date under the Protocol is 2010.

In the debate about the strategy prepared by the Commission to reduce the problems of acid rain in the Community, we made it clear the UK strongly supported action on this, though more work was needed to clarify the benefits and costs—a view shared by the majority who spoke. We also supported the designation of the Baltic and North seas as areas where the emissions of sulphur dioxide by ships should be controlled; we also called for this control to be extended to the west of Britain. The Council expressed general support for the proposal for the Water Framework Directive, although greater definition of the objectives to be achieved remains a common priority for the further discussions to be held under the forthcoming Luxembourg Presidency.

Conclusions were also agreed on several issues relating to the EU position for the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) in New York. The Council also agreed resolutions on the drafting, implementation and enforcement of Community Environmental Law and on Environmental Agreements. The Presidency concluded that there was insufficient support by member states for the proposal by the Commission for a Framework Agreement on Humane Trapping Standards (leghold traps) and therefore handed the dossier over to the Luxembourg Presidency.