Circular economy solutions have great potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Many opportunities exist in the built environment, urban transport and the food sectors, and in other areas as well.
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?
This briefing explores how European policies and the COVID-19 recovery efforts can better reflect the impact of the natural environment on people's mental health
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.
This background paper reviews available scientific evidence on the correlation between the environment and people’s mental health and well-being in Europe, and identifies solutions for policymakers.
The COVID-19 crisis has led to major changes in Europeans’ consumption habits, but our planet’s resources are not infinite, and the way we consume them today is not sustainable.
We look back at October’s tumultuous CAP and biodiversity week and reflect on its implications for the achievement of the European Green Deal’s biodiversity objectives and the fresh EU commitments for an ambitious new global deal for nature.
The Horizon Europe mission on Soil Health and Food has set the ambitious target for 75% of soils in the EU to be healthy – within just 10 years. Here are five recommendations for achieving this.
The first in a series of three, this paper focuses on the rationale for the prioritisation of environment and climate goods and services from EU rural land, and gives some insight into how they might be incentivised.
The revised multiannual financial framework (MFF) and the recovery package announced by the European Commission include €55 billion of new funding for the cohesion policy, sending an important signal when the entire EU project is at risk due to clashing visions of what European solidarity means in the post-COVID-19 context.
The EU's new biodiversity strategy is an ambitious, constructive and coherent strategy that delivers on the commitment from the EU and its Member States to protect the living world and implement national strategies and action plans to achieve it.
The European Commission, in cooperation with the European Committee of the Regions, organised an EU Conference “Halting the loss of pollinators: the role of the EU agricultural and regional development policies” on 21 February.
The EU has some of the highest levels of human development in the world. No member state, however, is currently guaranteeing the well-being of its citizens while also staying within planetary boundaries.
IEEP was an official partner of this year’s EU Green Week, with a session reflecting on the achievements of the outgoing Parliament and the priorities for the new one.
Leading up to IEEP's Think 2030 conference, experts express their views on Europe's most pressing sustainability issues in the Think 2030 blog series, Pathways to 2030.
The twelvth edition of Pathways to 2030 features Domingo Jiménez Beltrán, Member of IEEP's Strategic Advisory Board who discusses the concept of Connected Self-Sufficiency in the EU.
In a recently publicly published book chapter, Jean-Pierre Schweitzer and IEEP’s Susanna Gionfra brought together evidence of how nature-based education, utilizing green infrastructure and protected areas, presents an opportunity to mitigate the impacts of environmental and socio-economic challenges faced by urban citizens.
Today, the Commission starts putting some flesh on the bones of its plans for EU spending after 2020. Their communication earlier in May set out some broad principles, which we commented on here. Over the next week or so, they will be publishing detailed legislative proposals for the different programmes; and regional affairs Commissioner Corina Crețu set the ball rolling by announcing proposals for cohesion spending.
Pollinators are increasingly under threat by human activity. IEEP surveyed national and regional initiatives that help pollinators in ten EU Member States, outlining strategies, successes and gaps.