"Sustainability 21" on 5-6 November 1999 in Helsinki

The EU's record in promoting sustainable development came under close scrutiny at the Sustainability 21 Conference in Helsinki on 5 6 November 1999. This high-level conference was held in advance of the December Helsinki European Summit, at which EU Heads of State and Government will review Europe's progress towards sustainable development and the integration of environmental issues into other policy areas.
The conference proceedings are available here for download (pdf-Format) and can also be downloaded in German and French at:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/forum/sust21.htm

Proceedings
Recommendations
Press Release
Background on Organizers
Programme

Conference Recommendations

Sustainability 21 - Transforming Markets

The Sustainability 21 Conference participants, differing in background but united in their desire to advance the objective of sustainable development in the European Union, declare with a view toward the discussion of environmental integration and sustainable development at the European Council meeting of 10-11 December 1999 in Helsinki:

  1. The European Union, on the threshold of a new millennium, faces the challenge of making the transition to sustainable development and a better quality of life for Europe’s citizens. This is to be achieved by aligning the three dimensions of sustainability: environmental imperatives, economic objectives and social considerations.

  2. There is an urgent need to face this challenge since, as the European Environment Agency reports, ‘unsustainable development’ in certain economic sectors (e.g. agriculture, energy and transport) is the major factor in the declining environmental quality in the EU.

  3. Meeting this challenge requires sustained and coordinated direction from the EU’s political leaders, as initiated by the European Council’s ‘Cardiff integration process’. Meeting this challenge also requires active involvement of consumers as well as leadership from other sectors, such as the business community, which stand to gain markets from this leadership.

  4. The ‘Cardiff process’ correctly identifies integration as a key mechanism for attaining sustainable development.

  5. The European Council has invited various formations of the Council (agriculture, energy, transport, and others) to examine their own work and to identify the measures needed to accomplish the integration of environmental requirements into other policy areas in order to promote sustainable development as required by the Treaty of Amsterdam

  6. The European Council in Helsinki should take a close and critical look at the reports the various formations of the Council have prepared to date. It is clear that the reports are of differing quality and lack a common framework. Further work by these Councils will be needed to turn them into strategies for integration.

  7. The European Council should forcefully express its determination to continue to monitor, evaluate and link the integration strategies of the various formations of the Council.

  8. The European Council should request the President of the European Commission to champion integration within the Commission and to take an active central role in making the integration principle work in practice. The Commission’s group for ‘Growth, Competitiveness, Employment and Sustainable Development’ should be a forum for initiatives for sustainable development.

  9. The transition to sustainability is one of the biggest challenges facing our society. The European Council should resolve now to order the preparation of a ‘Sustainable Development Strategy for the EU’ with a time horizon of up to 30 years to be adopted in time for the Rio + 10 review. A new sixth Environmental Action Programme should constitute a strong environmental pillar of this strategy, alongside social and economic considerations.

  10. Any strategy for integration and sustainable development must include principles and both short and long term targets, timetables, indicators and benchmarks. These elements are crucial for getting the message across to governments, all stakeholders and the general public. Without these mechanisms, there is no way of knowing whether we are on the right track and moving at the right speed.

  11. A common framework of core headline indicators for monitoring progress should be developed to assist the various formation of the Council in their further work on integration. Core headline indicators should be complemented by sectoral indicators which reflect the specific areas of responsibility of each Council formation, as well as by indicators for the social and economic objectives (e.g. competitiveness) of sustainable development. The approach should be pan-European in scope, reflecting the upcoming accession of new member states.

  12. Core headline indicators should address inputs (resource consumption), outputs (emissions, waste streams), responses(market instruments, management tools) and outcomes (human health, social welfare, biodiversity, environmental quality). Core headline indicators should serve as signposts to progress and be expressed in ways the general public can follow (quality of life terms).

  13. Indicators for sustainability should have both a near-term (e.g. five years) and long-term character (e.g. one generation). The indicators should enable the monitoring of progress, e.g. in increasing the efficiency of resource use and the decoupling of resource use and economic growth.

  14. The Commission, with the support of the European Environment Agency, should be requested to play a leading role in helping to develop and apply these headline and sectoral indicators, together with appropriate targets, timetables and independent monitoring systems to produce yearly progress and trend reports. Priority formations of the Council for action continue to be agriculture, transport, energy fisheries, trade and, in particular ecofin and internal market.

  15. The European Council should also emphasise the need for each institution of the EU to use and further develop mechanisms for integration (e.g. environmental appraisals, integration procedures) appropriate to its role. One such mechanism could be a ‘Red Flag’ for unsustainable policies or measures. The European Council, for its part, should commit itself not to support any major policy initiative with significant environmental impacts unless it has been accompanied by satisfactory environmental appraisal and an analysis of its contribution to sustainability.

  16. The European Council should seek to inspire a new spirit of governance, giving priority to the enabling of innovation and partnership and drawing on citizen and stakeholder involvement as called for by the Aarhus Convention with its rights of access to information, public participation and access to justice.

  17. Promoting sustainable development will also require renewed efforts to improve environmental education and communication with the public. A strategy for sustainable development must address the influencing of personal behaviour and choices in consumption, including the provision of information which enables consumers to make sustainable choices.

  18. Similarly, local and other levels of government and other sectors, including the business sector (both large companies and smaller enterprises), should be encouraged to examine their own role in sustainable development and to develop benchmarks and other mechanisms to improve environmental performance.

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