Europe, Climate and Industry: Luxembourg at the EU Environment Council
Guillaume de Germain, Unsplash
On 27 March 2025, Luxembourg's Minister of Environment, Climate and Biodiversity, Serge Wilmes, attended the European Union's Environment Council (Conseil Environnement) meeting in Brussels. The main topics of the meeting covered the Clean Industrial Deal, global environmental policy challenges, the outcome of COP16 on biodiversity, and the strategic vision for agriculture and food.
The Clean Industrial Deal (CID), presented on 26 February 2025, aims to combine decarbonisation and industrial competitiveness objectives. Priorities include strengthening the circular economy, creating safe and sustainable production chains and developing legislative initiatives in the chemical industry.
Serge Wilmes said that this pact "demonstrates Europe's determination to achieve full decarbonisation by 2050". He emphasised that the ecological transformation should be the basis for innovation, new jobs and technological independence for Europe. The minister emphasised the importance of strict control of chemicals at all stages of the product life cycle, especially in recycling. This, he said, is necessary to "create non-toxic and sustainable material cycles".
He also recalled the importance of financial and technical support to European agencies and national authorities to enable them to effectively implement increasingly complex legislation, ensuring the functionality of the EU single market.
Discussing international initiatives, the Minister underlined the key role of the United Nations Environment Programme (PNUE) in strengthening multilateralism and promoting joint environmental solutions. In the presence of PNUE Executive Director Inger Andersen, he highlighted Luxembourg's strong and innovative partnership with the programme.
Serge Villemes also recalled the need for an international treaty to combat plastic pollution as soon as possible, covering the entire life cycle of plastic, from production to recycling.
Among other topics, the results of the second session of COP16, held in Rome in February 2025, were discussed. The Minister expressed his satisfaction with the agreement reached on the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), calling it a crucial step towards the conservation of the planet's natural resources. He said the document "sends a message of hope" and reaffirms the strength of international co-operation.
