France dubious about EU-wide ‘net-zero soil artificialisation’ target

France is “not persuaded” that its 2050 ‘zero artificialisation’ goal should be extended at the EU level, even though discussions are currently underway on a European soil monitoring and resilience directive.

Read the original French article here.

Last July, the European Commission proposed a directive on soil monitoring and resilience to ensure all ecosystems are in good health by 2050.

First mentioned in 2011 in the Roadmap for a Resource Efficient Europe, then reaffirmed in the EU’s 7th Environment Action Programme and According to Green lawmakers and campaigners, the Commission’s new proposal for a soil monitoring law falls behind the initial ambition of giving soil a protected status similar to that of air or water Soil Strategy for 2030, this is an EU-level first in terms of land management.

According to Rainer Baritz, a European Environment Agency (EEA) soil expert, the push for soil health comes at the right time. “Since the mid-1950s, the total urban area in the EU has increased by 78%, contributing significantly to soil sealing and its negative impacts,” he told Euractiv.

The proposed Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience does not include a legally binding target to achieve net-zero soil loss by 2050.

But the new EU directive should nevertheless contribute to this goal by establishing a common EU definition of land use and requiring member states to monitor this phenomenon, a European Commission spokesperson said.

Commission tables first EU soil law, slammed for 'lacking ambition'

The Commission’s new proposal for a soil monitoring law falls behind the initial ambition of giving soil a protected status similar to that of air or water, according to Green lawmakers and campaigners.

French exception

The proposed EU directive is also similar to France’s existing Climate and Resilience Act of 22 August 2021, which introduced an objective of Net-Zero Artificialisation by 2050.

However, France shows no intention of extending this concept at the EU level.

“I’m not convinced that such an objective would make sense at the European level,” said French Ecological Transition Minister Christophe Béchu when he took the floor at an EU environment ministers’ meeting in December.

Nevertheless, “a text on soil monitoring and resilience that looks at the sustainability of urban sprawl in Europe seems to me to be essential,” he told his European colleagues.

With its legally binding national target, France is an exception in Europe. Although similar policies exist in Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Italy, there is no precise legal definition of soil artificialisation, according to a study by the French Senate published in September.

Germany and Italy each have a national target, but “these targets are not legally binding and have not been broken down or distributed at regional or local level,” the Senate’s report said.

The implementation of the national target and the level of ambition in reducing built-up land is primarily a matter for the German federal states and the Italian regions, where the targets are rarely met due to exemptions and long implementation periods.

In Spain, “neither the central government nor the Autonomous Communities have adopted specific targets or public policies for the reduction of artificial land,” adds the French Senate report.

As for the Netherlands, there is no target for reducing land artificialisation, as the Dutch government considers that the EU soil target is simply “not achievable”.

However, the future EU directive on soil monitoring should pave the way for a common policy to reduce the amount of built-up land along the lines of the French legislation.

EU auditors court slams lacklustre EU soil protection efforts

The European Commission and EU member states are not being ambitious enough with their protections for EU soil, nearly 70% of which was found to be unhealthy, the European Court of Auditors said.

Debate on future EU directive

At the December meeting of EU environment ministers, the then-Spanish presidency put forward two questions on the Soil Directive: “How can we improve the control framework to improve soil health? And “What level of ambition is needed to tackle soil pollution?”

While all EU member states agree on the need to adopt such a text, there are differences of opinion.

For example, while France and Germany are critical of the excessive amount of soil sampling and monitoring required by the Commission, the Czech Republic proposes not to monitor the health of soils that do not provide ecosystem services.

Another point raised in particular by the former communist countries of Eastern Europe is the need to consider the historical contamination of certain soils from old industrial sites.

Eastern EU countries have many contaminated sites dating from before 1990, making the “polluter pays” principle impossible to apply because those responsible no longer exist.

For example, Hungary has spent €1 billion cleaning up former military bases, while the Baltic states are calling for creating a special fund to decontaminate these sites.

Finally, not all member states agree on what constitutes ‘healthy soil’ or what is meant by ‘artificialisation’.

For example, Portugal wants to include biodiversity loss, while Italy intends to extend the concept to desertification. Belgium, meanwhile, supports a preventive approach focusing on substances harmful to soil health.

Sweden, by contrast, said it wanted to introduce exemptions for national defence purposes and the expansion of residential areas.

With such a plethora of national positions expressed at the December meeting, the debate on an EU-wide Net-Zero Artificialisation target for 2050 looks far from over.

Senate’s Economic Affairs Committee members

French Senate calls for more ambitious policy to curb urban sprawl

As French senators prepare to examine the country’s climate and resilience bill, members of the Senate’s Economic Affairs Committee published a report on Wednesday (12 May), calling for a more ambitious policy to achieve a net-zero goal on land artificialisation. EURACTIV France reports.

[Edited by Frédéric Simon/Paul Messad/Alice Taylor]

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