US embassy cable - 05PARIS8034

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 008034 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FROM USOECD 
 
STATE FOR EUR/ERA 
EPA FOR OIA/JAYRES AND BMCLEOD 
STATE FOR OES/MGOLDBERG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV, ETRD, KSCA, FR, OECD 
SUBJECT: OECD REPORTING: ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY COMMITTEE 
EXTENDED BUREAU MEETING, NOVEMBER 9-10, PARIS, FRANCE 
 
 
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SUMMARY 
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Judith E. Ayres, Assistant Administrator for 
International Affairs, Environmental Protection Agency, 
led the U.S. delegation at the November 9-10 meeting of 
the OECD Environmental Policy Committee (EPOC) extended 
bureau, in Paris, France.  The focus of the session was 
to discuss a new Strategic Vision for EPOC and to 
initiate discussions about EPOC's 2007-2008 program of 
work.   The U.S. worked successfully with the Swedish 
Chair, Mats Olsson and other Member countries to 
further refine the Strategic Vision. The Strategic 
Vision will be finalized this November, via written 
procedure, and forwarded to the full meeting of EPOC in 
March 2006.   The Strategic Vision places a renewed 
emphasis on the economic aspects of environmental work 
at OECD and will guide the prioritization of 
environmental work at OECD over the next five to ten 
years.   The U.S. also offered its views on the 
preliminary 2007-2008 program of work discussion paper 
and will submit further comments in writing.  The U.S. 
is supportive of the proposed program of work 
generally, and supports in particular the new program 
output area "Environment in the Global Economy." 
 
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EPOC Strategic Vision 
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1. As a member of the Task Force that drafted the new 
EPOC Strategic Vision, the U.S. is a strong proponent 
of the Vision and successfully negotiated further 
refinements. The purpose of the Vision is to guide 
environmental work of the Committee over the next 5-10 
years; to promote the implementation of the OECD 
Environmental Strategy for the First Decade of the 21st 
Century; and to strengthen the economic component of 
OECD's environmental agenda. 
 
2. As a result of U.S. interventions, it was agreed 
that final written comments on the draft Strategic 
Vision could be submitted to the Secretariat by 
November 16, 2005.   It was further agreed that the 
EPOC Chair would make further refinements to the 
Strategic Vision including: adding a new key 
introductory section; shortening the overall document 
by moving lists of examples to an annex; incorporating 
the concept of eco-efficiency policy innovations; 
rephrasing the importance of country environmental 
performance reviews (EPR) without specifically calling 
for an increase in the frequency of EPRs; and recasting 
the document to be more forward looking, rather than 
including sections that recap past work of the 
Committee. 
 
 
3. Australian delegate and EPOC Bureau member Kevin 
Keefe led a discussion about EPOC Communication 
strategy and needs.  He reminded delegates of the 2002 
Communication discussion that EPOC held and suggested 
that each program of work proposal in the future should 
be accompanied by an explicit communication plan that 
addresses who the target audience for the work is; what 
the key messages of the work are; how the proposed work 
relates to the Strategic Vision; and how the proposed 
work will be evaluated. 
 
4. The Chair summarized the Communication discussion 
noting that EPOC should look for increased 
opportunities to create debates around its work 
products; that it should identify key work programs and 
products worthy of more external communication efforts; 
that it should assess the impact of its work in a more 
explicit fashion; and that it should strengthen the 
OECD web site to further the dissemination of EPOC 
work.  The Secretariat was asked to consider this 
discussion and prepare a follow-up agenda item for the 
March 2006 meeting. 
 
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Stakeholder Session 
------------------- 
 
5. Representatives of the Business and Industry 
Advisory Committee (BIAC), the Trade Union Advisory 
Committee (TUAC) and European environmental groups gave 
their comments about the strategic vision and the 
proposed program of work.  The BIAC attendees thought 
the strategic vision was a positive development and 
that it would help to prioritize EPOC's work program, 
better integrate the environmental work into economic 
considerations, and broaden the cooperation of 
nonmember countries.  BIAC will discuss the Strategic 
Vision in its upcoming session with OECD member nation 
Ambassadors.    The European environmental groups, 
represented by John Hontelez, noted their support for 
the Strategic Vision and their concern for the use of 
the term competitiveness.   TUAC noted that the concept 
of sustainable development seemed to be missing from 
the Strategic Vision and challenged delegates to "set 
the bar a bit higher".  TUAC added that the connection 
to social issues, such as employment security, could be 
strengthened and noted the concentration of social and 
environmental issues in the Secretary General's recent 
priority list, currently under discussion by member 
nations. 
 
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Discussion of the 2007-2008 Environment Program of Work 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
6. OECD Environment Directorate Director Lorents 
Lorentsen opened the discussion of the 2007-2008 
program of work by describing the proposed work program 
areas from the perspective of the Strategic Vision.  As 
a result of Strategic Vision discussions, the 
preliminary program of work includes a new output area 
entitled "Environment in the Global Economy." 
 
7. The U.S. noted that it was supportive, generally, of 
all the proposed areas of work, including the new 
output area "Environment in the Global Economy."  The 
U.S. suggested broadening the scope of proposed output 
area 2.3.2 from the currently titled "Climate Change 
and Biodiversity" to our proposed title "Natural 
resource management, including climate change."  We 
emphasized that this change would allow EPOC to 
maintain latitude to address other vital natural 
resource issues such as, for example, surface, ground 
and marine water management issues and urban and rural 
land use issues -- -- without having to "link" such 
discussions to climate change or biodiversity.   This 
notion was supported by some delegations (Canada, 
Australia) and opposed by others (Swizterland, UK). 
 
8. The U.S. secured permission from the Secretariat to 
provide detailed written comments on the program of 
work discussion paper by November 25, 2005. After that 
time, the Secretariat will compile all written and oral 
comments, attempt an initial prioritization of proposed 
activities, provide budget figures for proposed 
activities and provide all this information to 
delegations by the end of January 2006.  Delegations 
will then proceed with a more explicit prioritization 
exercise of this refined program document and submit 
responses back to the Secretariat in early February 
2006.   The Secretariat will then formulate a new 
version of the suggested 2007-2008 program of work and 
budget for use at the March 1-3, 2006 meeting of EPOC. 
 
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Other Business 
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9. The Committee was briefed on the progress of the 
OECD Headquarters site renovation project.   This multi- 
year project is reaching its mid point ahead of 
schedule and on budget.  The new conference center and 
renovated Headquarters will be open for delegation 
meetings as early as spring 2007. 
 
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Upcoming Meetings of EPOC 
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10. The Committee confirmed the following EPOC 
meetings: March 1-3, 2006 in Paris; October 25-27, 2006 
in Krakow, Poland (when OECD Headquarters are closed 
for renovation); and a proposed spring meeting in May 
23-25, 2007 at the newly reopened OECD conference 
center in Paris. 
 
REID