Informal Council of the Environment Ministers in Tallinn - Main contents

What are your main expectations regarding the informal meeting of environment ministers? From the Environment point of view, it's great to see the Estonia making eco-innovation a priority. And best of all, it's a file that that will be to the fore for the next 18 months, as it's been adopted as a priority by the next three Member States that will hold the Council presidency.

Eco-innovation is also a priority for the European Commission because it turns environmental problems into positive ideas, entrepreneurial solutions and local jobs. We are promoting and mainstreaming eco-innovation in many fields, from climate and energy to waste and policies for the circular economy.

We are boosting cooperation, and helping Member States learn from each other through tools like the Environmental Implementation Review and Eco-innovation country reports.

And we are backing this up with financing through cohesion funds, through EFSI, through Horizon 2020, and LIFE, as well as through the European Investment Bank and the new Circular Economy Finance Support Platform.

What I really want to see from Estonia is continued support when it comes to promoting eco-innovation, through targeted priority initiatives.

80 percent of a product's overall environmental impact is determined at the design stage. What could be done at EU and Member State level to help companies design out pollution and waste?

This is a major challenge, and we are tackling it in several ways. First of all by ensuring that this new attitude to design filters through at the most general level, as that's the philosophy behind the Circular Economy Package, and then more specifically, in targeted actions through Ecodesign.

In November 2015, the Commission adopted a new Ecodesign Working Plan for 2016-2019. The proposals it contains should lead to substantial cumulative savings and added value for Europe's citizens and industry, and enhance the circular economy and help fight against climate change.

The plan will review the existing Ecodesign and Energy labelling measures to keep up with technological progress and harness additional energy and resource-saving potential, and it should also cover a package of new products for which implementing measures may be considered. Only products that can deliver the biggest energy and resource efficiency savings and bring benefits for consumers and producers have made the cut. I think it's a good example of 'big on big things'. It's really about taking action where it matters most…

73 percent of Europeans live in urban areas. Which European cities are good examples of sustainable smart cities and what can be done to promote the concept at EU level?

This year we are celebrating the eighth edition of the European Green Capital Award, and the third edition of the Green Leaf award, which goes to smaller cities that are leading the way when it comes to sustainability. Each year, we have singled out one major capital for its contribution to sustainable urban living, and each one has brought something different. We've learned lessons from Vittoria Gasteiz in Spain about the importance of green areas, Hamburg showed some tremendous examples of transport and energy savings, Copenhagen showed us the way to go carbon-neutral by 2025. Essen is the current holder of the title, and they are doing a tremendous job of showing how you can reinvent yourself as a city, in their case going from a city that relied on polluting heavy industry to a modern city where the quality of the air and the water is a vast improvement on the past.

In May next year we'll be holding a major conference looking at precisely this. Green Week 2018 will be showcasing good examples of sustainable urban living, and looking at how we can export these good examples and help them become the norm. Events will be taking place all around Europe, and I hope to see Tallinn playing a major role.