A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE IN OUR HANDS - To Parent Directory

General introductionWhat are the EU’s goals?The EU has its own strategy on sustainable development dealingwith most of the Rio challenges covering economic, environmentaland social issues. It lists the following seven key challenges:• Climate change and clean energy• Sustainable transport• Sustainable consumption and production• Conservation and management of natural resources• Public health• Social inclusion, demography and migration• Global povertyThe Renewed EU Sustainable Development Strategy (‘renewed’because its has been updated from the first which was formulatedin 2001) sets out how we can meet our needs without making thequality of life worse for generations to come.In February 2005 the European Commission took stock of theprogress that had been made and came to the conclusion that thesituation was deteriorating. So in a bid to halt the destructive trendsleading to the exploitation of natural resources and environmentaldegradation and to deal with unemployment, immigration andpublic health, the EU Council adopted the strategy in June 2006.In 2007 a progress report was published and can be found on thesustainable development website at: ec.europa.eu/sustainable/The first, specific long-term objective is to limit climate changeand the EU will put pressure on its countries to meet the commitmentsthey signed up to in 1997, through the Kyoto Protocoland the most recent targets agreed between the heads of state atthe Spring European Council in March 2007 to reduce greenhousegases by 20 percent by 2020. How the targets can be met is thesubject of a wide range of programmes and laws.Although this stays at the top of the list, emphasis has also beenplaced, among other areas, on solidarity between generations.Closing the poverty gap is a key thread of the strategy and itoutlines ways of doing so, such as increasing employment, puttingeffective social welfare into place and making sure education andtraining are flexible and widespread enough to appeal to all.08