The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mrs Caroline Spelman)

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and I will represent the UK at the Environment Council in Luxembourg on 14 October.

The Council will hold an exchange of views on the proposal for a regulation modifying the directive concerning the possibility for member states to restrict or prohibit the cultivation of GMOs on their territory. The Belgian presidency will seek the adoption of Council conclusions on; the 10th meeting of the Conference of Parties to the convention on biological diversity; and on the preparation of the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN convention on climate change and the sixth session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto protocol. The presidency will also seek the adoption of procedural Council conclusions on an analysis of possible options to go beyond the objective of a 20% reduction in greenhouse gases and evaluation of the risk of carbon leakage.

Information from the Commission on progress towards achieving the Kyoto objectives concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions for implementing the Kyoto protocol;

Information from the Commission on Aviation and Climate Change—Developments at the ICAO Assembly;

Information from the Commission on the implementation of the Commission decision on the use of 300 million allowances from the new entrants’ reserve of the emissions trading scheme for the demonstration of carbon capture and storage and innovative renewable energy technologies;

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