Current situation
The urban environment is an important policy area as currently 80% of Europe's population lives in urban areas. Cities are where the impact of traffic-generated pollution (air + noise pollution) is felt most strongly. This has serious effects on the quality of life and health of many EU citizens and serious efforts should be made to reduce the ecological footprint of cities.

What is the EEB doing?
The EEB has actively followed the development of the Thematic Strategy on the Urban Environment which was proposed by the Commission in January 2006. The Strategy is to build upon existing legislation with regard to air and water pollution and waste management, noise reduction and transport policies. This Strategy, rather than tackling environmental problems one by one, is to give direction on how an integrated approach of city planning, technical requirements, communication tools and financial incentives can work to improve the quality of life of the cities' populations while reducing the ecological footprint of cities on the natural environment.

The EEB criticised the Strategy for not proposing legislation to introduce urban and transport management plans that would reduce the environmental impact of urban policies. At earlier stages the Commission had considered obliging Europe 's big cities to adopt plans which would integrate environmental concerns into their day-to-day policy decisions and help to better manage urban transport. The new Thematic Strategy only promises further technical guidance on such plans, to be published later in 2006.


 

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	For more information, please contact: Kerstin MEYER email: kerstin.meyer@eeb.org