Danish Minister for the Environment, Ida Auken, and Minister for Climate, Energy and Building, Martin Lidegaard, have invited their ministerial colleagues in Europe to an informal meeting to discuss how a greener Europe can help resolve the financial crisis.

The road to a green economy

At the meeting for ministers for the environment, ministers will try to reach an agreement on the road to a green economy.

"At the meeting in Horsens we have to come to an agreement on the principles for a new 7th Environment Action Programme. The new Programme is to ensure a green transition for the EU over the next 10 years. This green transition, where we get more out of less, is the way out of the crisis,” says chairman of the Environment Council, Ida Auken.

Joint European efforts leading up to Rio+20

The ministers for the environment will also discuss how Europe, as an important party in the negotiations at the world summit in Rio in June, can make a decisive imprint on the agreement that should lead the way to a global green transition. This transition must hold possibilities for both growth and sustainable use of natural resources.

"Exploitation of the world's natural resources has so far led to growth, however, now, we have exceeded the limit. The Earth's population is rapidly moving from seven to nine billion people, and many countries see growing middle classes. So we have to reduce the pressure on the world's resources. Europe should play an prominent role and ensure that the world summit leads to concrete results," says Ida Auken.

Moving forward on the Energy Efficiency Directive

At the Energy Ministers meeting, Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Building, Martin Lidegaard will endeavour to move forward the difficult negotiations on the Energy Efficiency Directive. The Danish EU Presidency has recently presented a compromise proposal to make for progress in the negotiations. The objective is still to satisfy the recommendation of the EU heads of state and government to reach an agreement with the European Parliament before the end of June.

"I would like to appeal to my colleagues to show a good degree of flexibility, so that we can adopt the Directive. Flexibility is required of both Member States and the European Parliament," says Martin Lidegaard

2030 visions for European energy policy

The energy ministers will also discuss the visions for European energy policy in 2030. These discussions will be on the basis of the European Commission's Energy Roadmap 2050, which describes options for Europe to limit its carbon emissions by 80%-95% by 2050

See the full programme and watch live streams from the meetings

Source: Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2012