European Environmental Bureau

Introduction

In December 2019, the European Commission unveiled an ambitious plan for a European Green Deal, promising a ‘set of deeply transformative policies’ that would be rolled out over the coming years aimed at tackling the major environmental crises facing Europe and the world.

EEB's Commitment

The EEB, as Europe’s largest network of environmental citizens’ organisations, made it a central priority in 2020 and 2021 to ensure that the EGD’s ambitious vision was translated into equally ambitious concrete policies as the roadmap was rolled out.

Challenges and Opportunities

The context was complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic that struck Europe just three months after the EGD was launched. However, the ensuing economic crisis and the recognized need for a major injection of public funding also created an opportunity to push for a green recovery.

Future Goals

In 2022-2024, the EEB will continue to seek an ambitious rollout of the EGD and a green recovery across a broad range of policy fields.

Technical and Visionary Work

1. Technical work in specific policy areas aimed at achieving much-needed incremental change (e.g., through tightening emission standards) will be complemented by:
   • More visionary work on bigger changes that are needed in society in order for us to ‘live well, within planetary boundaries’ in the words of the 7EAP.
   • Tackling over-consumption and moving ‘beyond GDP’.

Social Justice

Addressing the social justice dimension will also be a key aspect of our work.

Global Engagement

While the EU can and must be at the cutting edge in establishing progressive environmental policies, success in tackling global environmental problems cannot be achieved by EU domestic policies alone. The EEB will therefore continue to engage at regional and global levels and to support more ambitious policies in neighboring countries.

Strengthening Organizational Base

Finally, we plan to further strengthen our organizational base in 2022-2024 by:

1. Continuing to expand and consolidate our membership.
2. Further diversifying our funding sources.
3. Upgrading our communications tools.
4. Completing the overhaul of our financial and project management systems.