Unveiled on 15 November, the Commission´s Work Programme for the year to come is based on three overarching objectives, namely building a Europe of stability and responsibility, building a Union of growth and solidarity, and giving the EU an effective voice in the wider world. Environmental and  energy targets are an integral part of the Commission´s plan...
Based on Mr. Barroso´s political guidelines and the State of the Union address 2011, the new Work Programme includes measures aimed at securing public revenue and thus the European social model, such as shifting the tax burden from labour to resource consumption through energy taxation for instance.  

As part of the measures foreseen to secure a way out of the crisis for Europe, the Commission plans to speed up energy infrastructure investment towards the completion of the internal market by 2014, as requested by the European Council. The new work programme stresses that given the significant investments at stake to renew EU´s energy systems (€ 1 trillion for the period 2011-2020), the energy sector is another key lever for economic growth. The Commission will take a number of initiatives in this respect.

"The Commission's approach to a resource efficient and low-carbon economy, which will be integrated into economic policy and the Annual Growth Survey, has set out how smart growth needs to be well directed, to turn the challenge of a sustainable Europe into our competitive advantage", the 2012 Work Programme reads. The EU Executive reminds that the reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) will be key dossiers for 2012, the objective being to "give sustainable footing to sectors critical to both our environment and our economy". Furthermore, the European Commission says it will present proposals on securing access to clean and sufficient water: a blueprint to safeguard water resources to focus public policy on tackling the pressures on water is expected in 2012.

In 2012, the Commission will also push forward important energy policy proposals, such as the proposed Energy Efficiency Directive -which is expected to help unlock benefits worth an average of €1000 a year per EU household while creating up to two million jobs as well as addressing climate change- and a proposal to enhance the framework for nuclear safety based on the lessons learnt from the stress tests of EU nuclear power plants, technical progress and international regulatory developments. The Commission will also provide a strategy for accelerating the development of renewable energy in the EU internal market and in its Southern Mediterranean neighbours. "Progressing towards adoption of the proposed regulation to facilitate investments in the necessary energy infrastructure to accelerate the integration of renewable sources of energy would be an important signal", argues the Commission.

The Commission expresses its resoluteness to pursue efforts towards a genuine and compréhensive global effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Reforming the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and pushing forward measures to help achieve the climate and energy targets are therefore at the Commission´s agenda for the year to come. The Commission further plans to push forward the review of the legislation on passenger cars and vans to foster cleaner road transport, and to break transport's dependence on oil by galvanising the development of EU infrastructures for alternative fuels.

Finally, the 2012 Work Programme reads that "the Rio+20 summit in June 2012 will put the spotlight on the global effort for sustainability and promoting green growth. EU policies will be in the vanguard of that effort"

The success of the European Commission's 2012 work schedule “will depend on the dialogue among the institutions”, stated Commission President José Manuel Barroso. The Parliament is expected to formulate its position on the new Work Programme in December.