130.Welcomes the European Raw Materials Initiative, the European Innovation Partnership on raw materials and its strategic implementation plan, as well as the Resource Efficiency Roadmap; highlights the need to address resource scarcity for crucial resources such as water and calls on the Commission to continue work on its three-pillar raw materials strategy of international partnerships and trade, supply of raw materials in the EU, and resource efficiency, recycling and re-use; calls on the Commission to include the waste policy go ...[+++]als in the European Semester and in country-by-country recommendations and the national reform programmes; calls on the Commission to further develop sectoral benchmarks for resource efficiency, particularly for public procurement purposes; calls on the Commission to mainstream a 3R strategy (reduce, re-use, recycle) and to study cautiously proposals calling for the limitation of important raw materials; stresses the importance of a global certification scheme for first-treatment recycling of hazardous waste and for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) materials; points out that relevant building collection and recycling schemes exist in some Member States; notes that the European extractive industries display some of the highest standards in the world and calls on the Commission to evaluate within two years the proposal to establish a European Geological Institute; calls on the Commission to come up with measures seeking to harmonise rules and licensing procedures for raw materials extraction in the EU; calls on Member States, industry, geological institutes and the Commission to cooperate in mapping the location of raw materials;

25. Stresses that improved energy efficiency and energy savings will play an essential role in the transformation of the energy system, and that meeting the 2020 objectives is a prerequisite for making further progress up to 2050; recommends, in this respect, that the Member States step up their efforts to fully implement the recently adopted Energy Efficiency Directive, and recommends that awareness-raising campaigns and energy efficiency be integrated into national educational curricula in the Member States; recommends that the Member States and the Commission do more to include national ideas and involve national development banks and to support exchanges of best practice; recalls that energy efficiency, if properly implemented, is a ...[+++]cost-effective way for the EU to achieve its long-term goals as regards energy savings, climate change, and economic and energy security; recognises that shifting to a more energy-efficient economy can accelerate the spread of innovative technological solutions, decrease fossil fuel imports and improve the competitiveness and growth of industry in the Union; believes that the move towards a better energy-efficiency policy should focus on the whole energy supply and demand chain, including transformation, transmission, distribution and supply, alongside industrial, building and household consumption; stresses that the EU’s long-term energy-efficiency policy should take the reduction of energy use in buildings as a central element, given that existing building renovation represents enormous energy saving potential; stresses that the current rate and quality of building renovation needs to be substantially scaled up in order to allow the EU to significantly reduce the energy consumption of the existing building stock by 80 %, relative to 2010 levels, by 2050; calls, in this regard, on the Member States to adopt ambitious, long-term building renovation strategies as required by the Energy Efficiency Directive;

24. Stresses that improved energy efficiency and energy savings will play an essential role in the transformation of the energy system, and that meeting the 2020 objectives is a prerequisite for making further progress up to 2050; recommends, in this respect, that the Member States step up their efforts to fully implement the recently adopted Energy Efficiency Directive, and recommends that awareness-raising campaigns and energy efficiency be integrated into national educational curricula in the Member States; recommends that the Member States and the Commission do more to include national ideas and involve national development banks and to support exchanges of best practice; recalls that energy efficiency, if properly implemented, is a ...[+++]cost-effective way for the EU to achieve its long-term goals as regards energy savings, climate change, and economic and energy security; recognises that shifting to a more energy-efficient economy can accelerate the spread of innovative technological solutions, decrease fossil fuel imports and improve the competitiveness and growth of industry in the Union; believes that the move towards a better energy-efficiency policy should focus on the whole energy supply and demand chain, including transformation, transmission, distribution and supply, alongside industrial, building and household consumption; stresses that the EU’s long-term energy-efficiency policy should take the reduction of energy use in buildings as a central element, given that existing building renovation represents enormous energy saving potential; stresses that the current rate and quality of building renovation needs to be substantially scaled up in order to allow the EU to significantly reduce the energy consumption of the existing building stock by 80 %, relative to 2010 levels, by 2050; calls, in this regard, on the Member States to adopt ambitious, long-term building renovation strategies as required by the Energy Efficiency Directive;

The Commission will implement the bio-economy strategy and will foster markets for bio-based products, speeding up the development of standards and their international recognition, promoting labelling and green public procurement, and will work with industry to develop detailed proposals for a bio-economy PPP (2013-14 onwards).

In addition, seven sector-specific initiatives have been set up (Pharmaceuticals Forum, Mid-Term Review of Life Sciences and Biotechnology Strategy, High-Level Group on the Chemicals Industry, High-Level Group on the Defence Industry, European Space Programme, Taskforce on ICT Competitiveness, Mechanical Engineering Policy Dialogue).

The pharmaceuticals strategy will be overseen by an annual Pharmaceutical Forum consisting of Member states (at Ministerial level), senior representatives of industry and other key stakeholders, such as patients and health professionals.