Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

The Chairman of the Royal Commission sent the following letter concerning the EU Sustainable Development Strategy to the Prime Minister on 13 March 2001.

The Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London   SW1A 2AA

The Royal Commission very much welcomes the recognition, in your speech last week, that climate change caused by burning fossil fuels is posing a fundamental challenge to the world. We look forward to the government's response to the report on this subject we published in June last year.

I am writing to you now about how climate change and other environmental issues can best be addressed at European level. Following the Helsinki Summit in December 1999 you wrote to me to confirm that Heads of Government had invited the European Commission to prepare a proposal for a long-term strategy dovetailing policies for economically, socially and ecologically sustainable development, to be presented to the European Council in June this year. You gave an assurance that the UK would continue to work with successive Presidencies to keep on track the process of integrating environmental and sustainable development considerations into all areas of policy making.

Last year, with the aim of creating a dynamic and inclusive Europe, the Lisbon structural reform process was initiated. The environmental dimension was not taken into account at that stage. But, unless current unsustainable trends which are damaging the environment are identified and tackled, the vision of a competitive, knowledge-based and inclusive society will be seriously undermined.

The Royal Commission, along with government advisory bodies in other Member States, has been very concerned at that prospect. We see the Sustainable Development Strategy for the EU as playing a vital role in averting such an outcome. It is also the essential basis for the EU's contribution to next year's Earth Summit.

A working group of European environmental advisory councils has therefore prepared a statement setting out proposals for the Strategy, and I am enclosing a copy. This statement was launched at a special conference in Stockholm last month, addressed by (among others) the Swedish and Belgian environment Ministers. Its general orientation has been formally endorsed by 23 advisory councils in 15 countries. In the UK these include English Nature, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Countryside Council for Wales, as well as the Royal Commission. The advisory councils in each Member State are writing to their Head of Government this week to draw attention to these proposals, in preparation for the Summit next week in Stockholm and the Gothenburg Summit in June.

We know the UK government has given strong support to producing a Sustainable Development Strategy for the EU. We hope that, at Stockholm, Heads of Government will put the Lisbon Process on the right track by committing themselves to extend it to embrace the environmental dimension. Success in integrating environmental considerations into overall economic and social policies will be dependent on the adoption of an effective Sustainable Development Strategy for the EU. We therefore ask you to do everything you can to ensure a successful outcome in that respect at Gothenburg in June.

The implementation and further development of the EU Strategy will also be of crucial importance. I am delighted that the Sustainable Development Commission, under Jonathon Porritt's chairmanship, have included influencing that process in the proposed work programme for their first two years.

I am copying this letter to the Deputy Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Foreign Secretary, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the Minister for the Environment, and to Jonathon Porritt.

Sir Tom Blundell
Chairman, Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution
13 March 2001

To view the European Environmental Advisory Councils' statement of proposals for the EU Sustainable Development Strategy, click the link below:

• Greening Sustainable Development Strategies Executive Summary (23Kb)
• Greening Sustainable Development Strategies Full Statement (113Kb)

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