A window of opportunity. That is a good description of the coming months of global environmental policy, with the US re-joining the Paris Agreement and with the postponed climate and biodiversity Conferences of Parties (COPs) on the agenda.
Under the European Green Deal, the EU has pledged to minimise its contribution to deforestation and forest degradation around the world and to promote the consumption of goods from deforestation-free supply chains. But what will that mean in practice?
The UK is now developing its own trade policy outside the EU. This means there is a need to re-evaluate the UK’s approach to environmental standards in trade, including relating to agri-foods.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on our health, social and economic well-being. To avert future crises from spiralling out of control, strategies to prevent pandemics need to be in place before the next outbreak occurs. Until now, this has not been the case.
The briefing addresses the need for a new approach to environmental standards in trade policy relating to agri-foods, primarily in relation to the UK which is now developing its own policy outside the EU.
IEEP has submitted feedback to the European Commission’s public consultation on the EU classification system for green finance, with a focus on mitigation in the agriculture, forestry and bioenergy sector.
IEEP has submitted feedback to the European Commission’s public consultation on minimising the risk of deforestation and forest degradation associated with products placed on the EU market.
IEEP has submitted feedback to the European Commission’s public consultation on the EU trade policy review, providing pathways on how to green trade, while supporting the EU’s recovery and delivering the EU’s commitment to the SDGs.
This policy brief examines the way that soil is incorporated into the EU climate policy architecture and gives recommendations for enhancing its position in that architecture.
A recent virtual seminar co-hosted by IEEP and the Mission of Canada to the EU discussed the future of biodiversity conservation in the COVID-19 context. The seminar was part of a series of events the Mission of Canada to the EU is organising on shared ‘green’ policy priorities on the Canada and EU agendas.
A recent online event moderated by IEEP’s Marianne Kettunen and hosted by the EU office of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Foundation discussed the role of trade policy in the EU Green Deal in the post-COVID-19 context. The event provided insights from experts from the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Climate Foundation.
To inform future European Commission’s legislative efforts, IEEP’s discussion paper articulates sustainability criteria aimed at addressing the roots of deforestation, ecosystem degradation and human right violations driven by the EU’s purchase of agricultural commodities in third countries.
In its efforts to deliver on the EU Green Deal and to step up EU action, the European Commission launched a public consultation on deforestation and forest degradation. We've submitted several recommendations based on our work on these and related topics.
The EU’s food sector, due to its high demand for imported agricultural products like palm oil, soy, cocoa and coffee, is a significant contributor to deforestation and ecosystem degradation in third countries.
The European Commission has unveiled its much-anticipated Green Deal – the EU's "new growth strategy". IEEP has taken an early look at the content. Here are our first impressions.
Despite new and promising announcements by the Trade Commissioner-designate Phil Hogan, the EU is struggling to turn words and good intentions into effective actions when it comes to using trade as a vehicle for sustainability.
The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) have published the first independent quantitative report on the progress of the European Union and its member states towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), agreed by all UN member states in 2015.
Keeping increases of global temperature to the Paris target levels could require a land area the size of the EU to change from agriculture to forest says a report published today by IPCC.
UN SDSN and Bertelsmann Stiftung have just published their annual Sustainable Development Report. The latest edition includes recommendations for SDG implementation. According to the results, the EU and its Member States need to significantly step up their efforts to achieve the goals by 2030.
Today we celebrate the International Day for Biological Diversity aiming at increasing understanding of the diversity of life on the planet and awareness of its importance for human development. IEEP takes the opportunity to share some key positive lessons from recent EU biodiversity action and identify key remaining challenges towards 2030.