On May 12, 2021, the European Commission adopted the EU Action Plan: “Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil” – a key deliverable of the European Green Deal and the main topic of this year’s EU Green Week. This action plan sets out an integrated vision for 2050: a world where pollution is reduced to levels that are no longer harmful to human health and natural ecosystems, and the steps to get there. In particular, it sets out key 2030 targets and outlines a number of flagship initiatives and actions.
Water Europe welcomes the objectives of this Action Plan, in particular the ‘zero pollution hierarchy’ which refers to the EU Treaties and makes it clear that EU environmental policies should be based on the precautionary, preventive, control-at-source and polluter pays principles.
A special emphasis is also placed on the use of digital solutions. Accelerating the development of digital water and increasing the availability of data and information are indeed important tools to tackle pollution as highlighted in our position paper.
To achieve the agreed objectives, public funding, as well as private investment, will be needed. For more information please download the Zero Pollution Action Plan here. The press release can be seen here. Water Europe’s position paper on the ZPAP can be seen here.
For more information, please contact Loic Charpentier.
