EU targets for reducing material and consumption footprints

Question for written answer E-001734/2024
to the Commission
Rule 144
Carola Rackete (The Left)

Paragraph 7 of the European Parliament resolution of 10 February 2021 on the New Circular Economy Action Plan[1] '[c]alls on the Commission to propose binding EU targets for 2030 to significantly reduce the EU material and consumption footprints and bring them within planetary boundaries by 2050, using the indicators to be adopted by end of 2021 as part of the updated monitoring framework; calls on the Commission to build on the examples set by the most ambitious Member States while taking due account of differences in starting points and capabilities between the Member States'.

Furthermore, the EU's 8th Environment Action Programme (2022)[2] calls for a significant decrease in the EU's material and consumption footprints, both to safeguard precious natural resources and because the extraction and processing of these resources has significant environmental impacts, such as climate change and biodiversity loss.

• 1.How has the Commission responded to paragraph 7 of Parliament's resolution and the related call in the 8th Environment Action Programme?
• 2.What action, if any, has the Commission taken?
• 3.Does the Commission agree that EU targets for reducing material and consumption footprints are necessary, and if so, does the Commission intend to propose relevant legislation?

Submitted: 17.9.2024

• [1] OJ C 465, 17.11.2021, p. 11.
• [2] https://environment.ec.europa.eu/strategy/environment-action-programme-2030_en.