To celebrate World Environment Day 2021, we took the opportunity to interview a biodiversity policy expert from one of our Think Sustainable Europe Platform members, The Green Tank from Greece. Ιoli Christopoulou is a partner and policy director at the Green Tank specialising in biodiversity policy and spoke to us about the progress Greece has made in reaching its biodiversity targets and the challenges and opportunities that remain in the upcoming years.
IEEP, ISGlobal and Mental Health Europe are co-hosting an interactive online dialogue to discuss the nexus between the state of the environment and people’s mental health and how European policies and the COVID-19 recovery plans can mainstream them for people-centred and nature-based future.
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.
To celebrate the annual Natura 2000 day, IEEP's biodiversity intern Anya Coutinho spoke to Dr Mike Clarke, who recently became an IEEP associate and is the former Chief Executive of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
According to the legal scholar Edith Brown Weiss, every generation needs to pass on the Earth and its natural resources in no worse conditions than it received them, by preserving the diversity of natural resources, maintaining the quality of the environment, and ensuring non-discriminatory access among generations to the Earth and its resources.
This graph, put together by IEEP, shows that not only has humanity not succeed in reducing emissions following warnings on climate change, the emissions have, in fact, also grown substantially, and we have now emitted as much since 1990 as in all of history before that time.
According to IEEP’s calculations, an additional €381 billion of revenues in “pollution dividends” could be generated to support workers, households, countries and regions affected by the economic aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This policy report produced by IEEP for the FEPS foundation analyses how to achieve sustainability and equity between the people, regions, countries and generations of Europe in a post-COVID-19 era.
Faced with the emergency of the COVID-19 crisis, there is a great temptation for recovery plans to prop up yesterday’s economy instead of “building back better”. Instead, recovery plans and any economic stimulus must pass five tests, argue European sustainability think tanks.
There is unprecedented political momentum and window of opportunity for scaling up nature-based solutions for climate and well-being, with the existing experience base providing a solid foundation for this. Action on two fronts is required in creating an enabling environment to scale up existing initiatives and projects while developing a strategic vision and global movement for nature-based solutions.
Aiming to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, governments across Europe are advising people to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary – but just how important is access to the outdoors for one's mental and physical well-being?
Ahead of the publication of this year's country recommendations for the European Semester, this paper identifies priorities and modalities for the reform of the Semester so that it becomes a key instrument for operationalising the SDGs and implementing the European Green Deal at Member State level.
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.
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 contribution and value of nature to human welfare and well-being – our natural capital – tends to be overlooked in many policy decisions and business choices. As a result, ecosystems are being degraded and natural resources are being used in an unsustainable way.
Following the impressive demonstrations by young people around the world, the issue of intergenerational equity will be at the centre of the UN climate summit in New York.
Europe’s 2020 strategy and the 7th Environmental Action Plan were conceived before the SDGs, the Paris agreement and before some of the recent advances in scientific understanding of planetary boundaries, and of the scale of interconnected challenges to come. In light of the severity and urgency of risk identified by experts around the world, a new approach is now needed.
Open letter after open letter, scientists are warning us that we are running out of time: the more we wait, the more likely it is that damage will become irreversible. The more we procrastinate, the more painful the decisions we'll have to make.
