Green Week: Greener cities needed for cleaner air 02-06-2006 A conference co-organised by DG Environment and Friends of Europe on 31 May
investigated ways of "greening" European cities. Policy-makers stressed the role
of urban communities in improving air quality at the debate taking place in the
context of Green Week 2006. Speakers at the debate unanimously called for more
ambitious, legally binding air quality targets, in particular on reducing
concentrations of fine particulate matter in the atmosphere (the so-called PM
2.5).
The Commission on 13 January 2006 presented a strategy to make European
cities more environmentally-friendly, the Thematic Strategy on the Urban
Environment. The strategy focuses on fully applying existing EU policies rather
than suggesting new legislation. The strategy aims "to facilitate better
implementation of EU environmental policies and legislation at the local level
through exchange of experience and good practice between Europe's local
authorities." The main novelty is that the strategy allows the use of structural
and cohesion funds to support the quality of the urban environment.
Source: Euractiv LinksThematic Strategy on the Urban Environment back |
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