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The EC's rural development policy supports protection of the environment and rural landscapes.

On November 2008, the EU Council of Ministers (Agriculture) agreed on a compromise over a range of measures (e.g. the Health Check of the CAP reform) aimed at introducing some necessary adjustments to the 2003 CAP reform, thus allowing it to better response to the new challenges and opportunities, including climate change, the need for better water management, the protection of biodiversity, and the production of green energy.

The SAPARD and IPARD programmes (the rural development pre-accession instruments used to assist respectively the ten countries that became new Members of the European Community and the three new official candidate countries Turkey, Croatia, and FYROM) aim at supporting acceding countries in their preparations for implementation and management of the CAP, and to contribute to the sustainable development of the agriculture sector and rural areas in these countries.

The Accompanying Measures of the Rural Development Programmes of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) aim at providing grants to compensate for income foregone and additional costs resulting from implementing agri-environment commitments and for afforestation of agricultural land among others.

The 2007 Spring European Council committed to transform Europe into a low carbon economy with secure, sustainable and competitive energy, and it agreed ambitious targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy efficiency and boost the use of renewable energy by 2020 (a 20% reduction in GHG emissions, a 20% share for renewables in final energy consumption - including 10% share of bio fuels in road transport in each Member State - and a 20% saving in future energy demand by 2020 compared to the baseline projection).

The energy and climate package, encompassing proposals on emissions trading and renewables as well as Carbon Capture and Sequestration was finally adopted by the European Parliament on 17 December 2008, following historic agreement reached by the European Council.

A Strategic Energy Technology Plan was presented in November 2007 to accelerate the development and implementation of low carbon energy technologies and to propose the adoption of measures to improve the energy efficiency of consumer goods.

A second Strategic Energy Review was presented on 13 November 2008 with a view to further supporting the 20-20-20 climate change proposals fostering energy solidarity within Europe, and putting forward a new policy on energy networks to stimulate investment in more efficient, low-carbon energy networks.

A package of energy efficiency proposals aims to make energy savings in key areas, such as reinforcing energy efficiency legislation on buildings and energy-using products, and enhancing the role of energy performance certificates as well as inspection reports for heating and air-conditioning systems.

On the basis of the Green Paper adopted by the Commission in March 2006, the main EC objectives in energy are, inter alia, the achievement of environmentally sustainable, clean, and efficient energy supply and use as well as an increase in clean indigenous energy production, including renewable energies and other low carbon energy sources.