Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the Communication on Towards a thematic strategy on the sustainable use of natural resources
Date: 2004-04-22
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: EU environmental policy, biodiversity, exhaustion of resources, management of resources, natural resources, security of supply, sustainable development

30.4.2004

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 121/47

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the ‘Communication on Towards a thematic strategy
on the sustainable use of natural resources’

(2004/C 121/11)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

Having regard to the European Commission ‘Communication Towards a Thematic Strategy on the Sustain-
able Use of Natural Resources’, COM(2003) 572 final;

Having regard to the European Commission Communication on European governance, COM(2001) 428
final;

Having regard to the decision of the European Commission of 1 October 2003 to consult it on this
subject, under the first paragraph of Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European Community;

Having regard to the decision of its President of 27 January 2004 to instruct its Commission for Sustain-
able Development to draw up an opinion on this subject;

Having regard to the Commission Recommendation for the 2002 Broad Guidelines of the Economic Poli-
cies of the Member States and the Community, COM(2002) 191 final;

Having regard to the definition of ‘sustainable development’ set out in the Amsterdam Treaty;

Having regard to the Communication from the Commission A Sustainable Europe for a Better World: A
European Union Strategy for Sustainable Development (Commission's proposal to the Gothenburg Euro-
pean Council), COM(2001) 264 final;

Having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions Towards a global partnership for
sustainable development, COM(2002) 82 final;

Having regard to its opinion on the Communication on the sixth environment action programme of the
European Community - Environment 2010: Our future, our choice - the Sixth Environment Action
Programme - and the Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down
the Community Environment Action Programme 2001-2010 (COM(2001) 31 final – CdR 36/2001 fin (1);

Having regard to its opinion on the Communication from the Commission to the Council and the Euro-
pean Parliament Integrated product policy - Building on environmental life-cycle thinking, COM(2003)
302 final – CdR 159/2003 fin (2);

Having regard to its opinion on the Communication from the Commission to the Council and the Euro-
pean Parliament Towards a thematic strategy on the prevention and recycling of waste, COM(2003) 301
final - CdR 239/20003 fin (3);

Having regard to the European Commission's Green Paper Towards a European strategy for the security of
energy supply, COM(2000) 769 final;

Having regard to the Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament A
European Environment and Health Strategy, COM(2003) 338 final;

Having regard to Communications from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament:
Biodiversity Strategy (COM(1998) 42) and the Biodiversity Action Plan for the Conservation of Natural
Resources, COM(2001) 162 final;

Having regard to its draft opinion (CdR 11/2004 rev. 1) adopted on 5 March 2004 by its Commission for
Sustainable Development (rapporteur: Mr Cormick McChord, Leader of Stirling Council (UK/PES).

(1) OJ C 357, 14.12.2001, p. 44.
(2) OJ C 73, 23.3.2004, p. 51.
(3) OJ C 73, 23.3.2004, p. 63.

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Whereas:

1)

2)

3)

4)

it is clear that the current use of resources and impacts on the environment and the peoples of
Europe and the wider global community cannot be sustained;

a long-term approach is needed, consistent with EU sustainable development policies to reduce the
impact of resource use and place the EU on a path towards more sustainable consumption;

local and regional authorities are in a unique position to influence the use of natural resources
through a range of policy actions, such as waste management and planning, and to implement com-
munity-based measures to protect natural resources and influence consumption and production
patterns;

it is essential that the Strategy identifies priorities and practical actions, to deliver more sustainable
use of resources. This will require decoupling of economic growth from environmental and social
impacts, and the use of resources. The purpose of this is to reduce environmental impacts, address
depletion and security of non-renewable resources, and stop further degradation and depletion of
renewable resources. The Strategy should also deliver social inclusion and environmental justice
within the EU, address resource consumption needs of poorer countries (including the acceding
states) and inter-generational equity. The Strategy will require assessment of policies, gathering of
knowledge, including changing consumer behaviour, policy integration and alignment. Given its
‘unique role’ (Chapter 28, Agenda 21) local government should be a key stakeholder to promote
community-based activity;

5)

to secure these aims, the Strategy must recognise the importance of economic and fiscal policy.
Steps should be taken to internalise externalities (making the polluter pay), reinforced by appropriate
fiscal measures and public procurement policies;

unanimously adopted the following opinion at its 54th plenary session, held on 21 and 22 April 2004 in
Brussels (meeting of 22 April)

1. The Committee of the Regions' views

need to prioritise,
greatest need for environmental improvement of resource use;

taking into account where there is the

The Committee of the Regions

1.1
welcomes the Commission's Communication as a first
step towards the Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of
Natural Resources (‘the Strategy’), called for in the EU's Sixth
Environment Action Programme. Central to this is the recogni-
tion of the need to manage and reduce resource use to meet
the objectives of the EU's sustainable development strategy;

is pleased that the Strategy has as its overarching goal
1.2
the delinking or decoupling of environmental
impacts from
economic growth; and that the Strategy should ‘focus on redu-
cing environmental impacts, thus enabling growing economies
to use resources efficiently, from both an economic and envir-
onmental point of view’;

1.5
acknowledges that the impacts of using non-renewable
resources are currently of primary concern but thinks it also
important to recognise the risks to sustainable development of
depletion of non-renewable resources, with particular regard to
the limitations of European resources, security of supplies, and
geopolitical risks.

2. The Committee of the Regions' recommendations

The Committee of the Regions

1.3
agrees that achieving this will be a long-term process,
and therefore welcomes the 25-year time scale proposed, to
enable stakeholders to adapt their policies and processes ‘to
develop and adopt production and consumption patterns with
lower impacts’;

1.4
supports the broad approach of knowledge gathering,
policy assessment and integration, agrees especially the impor-
tance of education and awareness-raising and emphasises the

2.1
proposes that the Strategy is presented unambiguously
as the foundation of sustainable development, with implications
ranging from the realignment of economic and fiscal policy
through to policy on climate change. It should not be presented
more narrowly as part of environmental policy alone, or as
part of waste management (though these are integral to it).
This would be contrary to the Cardiff Process which seeks to
increase the integration of environmental
issues into other
policy areas, and carry the risk that the strategy might be
marginalised;

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2.2
urges that decoupling is not seen as just enabling
economic growth to proceed without resource depletion or
adverse environmental
impact. Environment, economy and
society remain interdependent. Economic growth, and in par-
ticular technological innovation, must be harnessed to reduce
resource use,
increase resource efficiency, possibly by reco-
vering and re-using them and encouraging the use of renewable
resources, and reduce environmental damage. The ‘three pillars
of sustainable development, economic, social and environ-
mental’ are not to be ‘balanced’, but aligned and coherent;

2.3
wishes therefore to see an enhanced recognition of the
importance of economic and fiscal policy. The aim should be
to internalise externalities, making the polluter pay, reinforced
by appropriate fiscal measures and public procurement poli-
cies;

calls for the strategy to address social

inclusion and
2.4
justice. Full account should be taken of the
environmental
impact of the Strategy on different groups in society, ensuring
that adverse effects do not fall disproportionately on those least
able to bear the burden, and that the Strategy complements EU
actions to tackle discrimination and social exclusion;

advocates giving more weight to issues of enlargement
2.5
and the international dimension. The Strategy should reaffirm
support for the WSSD Plan of Implementation, and set Euro-
pean sustainable resource use in the context of the increased
resource consumption needs of poorer countries and people

Brussels, 22 April 2004

living in poverty. The Strategy should adopt the Kyoto Protocol
approach of allowing growth in poorer countries (including the
Acceding Countries), while remaining within global carrying
capacities and guiding countries away from unsustainable paths
of resource use and resource intensity;

calls for the long-term perspective to take into account
2.6
intergenerational
justice. Taking into account the long term
and a global perspective, the Strategy should address the deple-
tion and security of supply of non-renewable resources as well
as
renewable resources
including biodiversity, fish stocks and carbon sinks;

the depletion and degradation of

urges that policy priorities are determined having regard
2.7
to the vulnerability of resources, resources with the most dama-
ging environmental impact; and carrying capacities.

2.8
proposes that the role of local and regional government
in the Strategy is recognised, along with other public agencies,
given its interest in such matters as planning, waste, local biodi-
versity and habitat protection, transport and education.

calls

2.9
the European Commission to take adequate
account of the principle of subsidiarity in policy proposals.
including Local Agenda 21, often
Community-level action,
provides the greatest driver towards resource protection. Policy
must be designed to ensure the optimal level of flexibility for
local and regional authorities to undertake action at the local
level, without being constrained by policy developed elsewhere.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Peter STRAUB