The Environment Council meeting under the Latvian Presidency took place in Luxembourg, on 15th June 2015. Ambassador Goran štefanic, Deputy Permanent Representative, (COREPER I) headed the Croatian delegation on the Council.
The Council discussed the preparations for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change conference to be held in Paris, 30 November – 11 December 2015 (COP 21). The aim of the Conference is to adopt a legally-binding agreement (Paris agreement), preferably in the form of a new protocol that will ensure limiting rises in global average temperature to below 2°C compared with pre-industrial levels that will require substantial and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by all countries. The Council also discussed the outcome of the recent international meetings on Climate Change in Bonn.
Croatia, among other issues, emphasized that in order to promote collective action and wider involvement of countries, the Paris agreement should deliver a framework for transparent and predictable investment in low-emission and climate–resilient development. Furthermore, it is important to strike a balance between mitigation and adaptation measures to climate change.
During the debate on the Proposal of Directive on setting of new emission reduction targets for certain pollutants into the air, as part of the Clean Air Policy Package, the ministers gave support to achieve the key health objective of the Directive: to reduce the annual 400,000 premature deaths due to air pollution by half until 2030 which will be possible to achieve if a realistic and feasible reduction targets which should take into account specificities of each Member State are determined.
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