http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/articles/i/5169/?cid=3 

European environment and climate ministers are meeting in Denmark for preliminary talks before agreeing a major green growth strategy later this month.

The 'informal' discussions in Aarhus and Horsens hosted by the current Danish EU Presidency aim to lay the groundwork for the European Council meeting later this month where the new 7th Environment Action Programme will be agreed.

The programme, which takes over from its predecessor that expires next month, sets the environmental policy agenda to 2020 and inputs into the Head of States' EU 2020 strategy.

Ministers will also discuss climate financing in developing countries and proposals for setting common accounting rules for greenhouse gas emissions from forestry and land use.

"Europe has been badly affected by the financial crises, but the solution is not to avoid the environmental agenda with the excuse that a cleaner environment is costly," says Minister for the Environment Ida Auken. "A green transition of Europe is precisely the way to recover from the financial crisis."

The meeting will focus on how the transition to a low-carbon economy can boost growth and the creation of jobs in the region.

"A transition to a green economy is an investment in the future and in new growth and jobs. Vestas is one of the world's largest wind energy companies. They show that thinking green and promoting growth are not opposites. On the contrary they go hand in hand," says Minister for European Affairs, Nicolai Wammen. "We need to figure out the details in order to create a sustainable path for growth."