Responsibilities

• Ensuring the environment, oceans and fisheries remain at the core of the European Green Deal.

• Presenting a new Biodiversity Strategy for 2030: from Natura2000, deforestation, species and habitats, to sustainable seas and oceans.

• Delivering on the Commission’s zero-pollution ambition, including air and water quality and hazardous chemicals.

• Leading on a Circular Economy Action Plan to promote the use of sustainable resources

• Promoting plastic-free oceans and proper implementation of legislation on plastics, particularly microplastics.
• Ensuring full implementation of the reformed Common Fisheries Policy.

• Effective control and enforcement and respecting the maximum sustainable yield objective.

• Evaluating the Common Fisheries Policy by 2022, including the social dimension, climate adaptation and clean oceans.

• Contributing to the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy on sustainable food, maximizing the potential of sustainable seafood and the aquaculture sector.

• Promoting international ocean governance, playing a lead role in international discussions.

• Ensuring Europe leads the way to an ambitious agreement at the 2020 Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

• Taking a zero-tolerance approach to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

• Contributing to WTO discussions on a global agreement to ban fisheries subsidies that cause overfishing, illegal fishing and overcapacity.

• Developing a new approach for a sustainable blue economy drawing on research, maritime spatial planning, marine renewable energy, blue investment and regional cooperation.