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Under the EC guidelines for state aid in the forestry subsector, support may be approved for ecological, protective (phytosanitary measures), and recreational functions; national aid for afforestation campaigns and establishment of agri-forestry systems may also be authorized.

Under the current "cross-compliance" rules, aid to farmers is linked to the respect of environmental, animal welfare, and food quality standards.

Under the Single Payment Scheme introduced with the CAP reform in 2003-4, farmers may still receive, in addition to the Single Payment Scheme, aid under other specific support schemes (direct payments) if they meet certain standards concerning public, animal and plant health, as well as the environment and animal welfare.

Member States applying the Single Payment Scheme may retain up to 10% of their national budget ceilings for direct payments and use them for environmental measures.

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.