CEP delivering online sense-making workshops as part of the fourth annual cycle of FORENV

CEP delivering online sense-making workshops as part of the fourth annual cycle of the EU Foresight System to Detect Emerging Environmental Issues 

CEP is continuing in our role of providing the secretariat for the EU Commission’s Foresight System for the detection of emerging environmental issues (FORENV).  Now in its fourth annual cycle, FORENV is focussing on identifying and characterising emerging environmental issues due to EU and global demographic changes. 

This topic will explore what projected European and global demographic changes, such as ageing and population dynamics within and between territories, might mean for the development of key sectors (such as mobility, agriculture and food, energy) and what the implications of these developments may be for the environment. 

To deliver FORENV, CEP is working with colleagues from Milieu (Belgium), Cranfield University (UK), the German Federal Environment Agency and Vision Communication (Spain).  The work to deliver each annual cycle includes: 

• A broad scanning to compile and characterise weak signals of emerging issues for Europe’s environment. 

• The organisation and facilitation of four participatory online sense-making workshops, to identify and select ten priority emerging environmental issues related to the topic (i.e. demography). 

• The characterisation of the ten priority emerging issues to define related risks and opportunities for the environment, through an evidence review and expert discussions.  

• Preparation of a final report including infographic presentation of each emerging issue. A short video is also prepared for each cycle.   

Miro board from last year’s workshop

Preparation for this cycle’s workshops is currently underway and these will be held online on 5th and 7th April 2022.  In total around 60 experts from the Commission, academia and NGOs will participate.  Across the workshops approximately 110 ‘weak signals’ of change related to the topic will discussed, clustered and prioritised.  CEP are leading the organisation of the workshops and will moderate them with support from our partners Cranfield University, Milieu Ltd and representatives of the European Commission. 

More information together with the final reports and videos prepared to date can be found on the Commission FORENV webpages. 

For further information please contact Owen White (Technical Director) or Rolands Sadauskis (Senior Consultant). 

CEP successfully adapts FORENV interactive sense-making workshops for online delivery

CEP successfully adapts interactive sense-making workshops for online delivery as part of our role as secretariat for the EU Foresight System for the detection of emerging environmental issues (FORENV)

In our role of providing the secretariat for the EU Commission’s new EU Foresight System for the detection of emerging environmental issues (FORENV), CEP has designed and moderated four online sense-making workshops.  These workshop are part of the third annual cycle of FORENV, which is running from September 2020 – September 2021, and is focusing on the topic ‘Emerging issues that will impact our ability to deliver a zero-pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment by 2050’.

In the first two annual cycles of FORENV (2018-19 and 2019-20) these workshops were held physically in Copenhagen, Brussels and Ispra (Italy).  Responding to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions it was necessary in the third annual cycle to redesign the workshops to be delivered online.  Through this adaptation the workshops were delivered in a highly participatory and interactive manner.  We were also able to make use of a state-of-the-art media facility hosted by our partner on this project, Cranfield University, which enhanced the experience for participants leading to successful outcomes for the project.

The workshops were held on the 12th and 16th of April and engaged approximately 40 experts from the European Commission, EU Member States, NGOs and research institutions.

Across the workshops approximately 130 ‘weak signals’ of change related to the topic were discussed, clustered and prioritised.  CEP led the organisation of the workshops and moderated them with support from our partners Cranfield University, Milieu Ltd and representatives of the European Commission.

Drawing on the workshop outcomes, up to 10 priority emerging issues will be proposed for further consideration in the next steps of the FORENV system.

For further information please contact Owen White (Technical Director) or Paula Orr (Technical Director).

CEP's EU FORENV work enters its third annual cycle

CEP is supporting the characterisation of priority emerging issues as part of the third annual cycle of the EU foresight system to detect emerging environmental issues

CEP is continuing in our role of providing the secretariat for the EU Commission’s Foresight System for the detection of emerging environmental issues (FORENV).  Now in its third annual cycle, FORENV is focussing on identifying and characterising emerging issues and benefits related to the Zero Pollution ambition for a toxic free environment.  

This topic relates to the overall green transformation for the EU towards becoming a climate-neutral, circular, clean and biodiverse region, as reflected in the European Green Deal.  It was selected by the European Commission as the focus of FORENV due to ongoing work at the Commission on a new EU Zero Pollution Action Plan for air, water and soil to be developed in 2021.  Once complete the outputs of this cycle of FORENV will feed into the first Zero Pollution Monitoring and Outlook report to be published in 2022.

To deliver FORENV, CEP is working with colleagues from Milieu (Belgium), Cranfield University (UK), the German Federal Environment Agency and Vision Communication (Spain).  The work to deliver each annual cycle includes:

• A broad scanning to compile and characterise at least 100 weak signals of emerging issues for Europe’s environment.

• The organisation and facilitation of four participatory sense-making workshops, to identify and select ten priority emerging environmental issues related to the topic (i.e. zero pollution).  Due to Covid-19 in this cycle we will are redesigning and running these workshops online.

• The characterisation of the ten priority emerging issues to define related risks and opportunities for the environment, through an evidence review and expert discussions.

• Preparation of a final report including infographic presentation of each emerging issue.  A short video is also prepared for each cycle.  The Cycle 1 video can be viewed here.

More information on FORENV can be found on the European Commission website.  The final report for the first annual cycle was published in December 2019, and the final report for the second annual cycle will be published early in 2021.  The methodology used for FORENV, which was developed for the European Commission through a previous project led by CEP, has also been published.

For further information please contact Owen White (Technical Director), Spela Kolaric (Senior Consultant) or Rolands Sadauskis (Senior Consultant).

New UK Government Futures Framework

CEP is a supplier on the new UK Government Futures Framework

CEP, in partnership with Cranfield University, have been appointed as a supplier to the new ‘Futures Framework’ which is supporting departments and agencies across UK Government in undertaking futures work and developing foresight capabilities.

The framework launched in February 2020 and will last for four years.  Through the framework UK Government departments and agencies can access support in relation to:

• Understanding emerging trends and developments that could impact policy;

• Understanding systemic consequences of policy or strategy;

• Exploring underlying drivers and issues in scoping policy or strategy;

• Identifying trade-offs and synergies in policy or strategy design;

• Determining visions of the future for new areas of policy or strategy;

• Use scenarios to test the future resilience of decisions;

• Literature and evidence reviews; and,

• Designing participatory processes including workshops.

Our partnership with Cranfield University builds on the ongoing successful collaboration to support the European Commission in implementing the European Foresight System for Emerging Environmental Issues (FORENV). 

CEP and Cranfield’s collective futures expertise includes:

• Conducting foresight and policy research, and developing forward-looking processes (e.g. emerging risk identification, horizon scanning, scenario building);

• Designing strategic foresight processes (e.g. scenario building and horizon scanning processes) and toolkits;

• Conducting foresight research to support the long-term vision, and strategic orientation of organisations and their policies;

• Providing expert assessment of emerging issues and their consequences;

• Conducting UK and EU-wide policy/programme evaluations across all stages of the policy cycle; and,

• Designing and delivering training and capacity building to public and private sector organisations in the use of strategic foresight processes.

More details of our partnership and a prospectus which sets out the collective expertise CEP and Cranfield are able to offer is available through the Cranfield University website.

Please contact Owen White (Technical Director) for any further information.

First annual cycle of the EU foresight system for emerging environmental issues completed

CEP successfully supports first annual cycle of the EU foresight system to detect emerging environmental issues (FORENV)

In 2018 CEP, with colleagues from Milieu (Belgium), Cranfield University (UK), the German Federal Environment Agency and Vision Communication (Spain), were commissioned by the European Commission DG Environment to run the EU foresight system to detect emerging environmental issues. Named FORENV, the project aims to ‘improve the understanding of policy-makers of emerging environmental issues by supporting yearly cycles of the system set up by the Environment Knowledge Community (EKC) for the identification of emerging environmental issues and related risks and opportunities (FORENV)’.

FORENV runs on an annual cycle, and CEP’s role is to:

• Conduct a broad scanning to compile and characterise at least 100 weak signals of emerging issues for Europe’s environment.

• Organise and facilitate participatory sense-making workshops, which will help identify ten priority emerging environmental issues, including related risks and opportunities.

• Characterise the identified emerging issues and define related risks and opportunities for the environment, through recent scientific literature and expert involvement.

• Inform policy-makers, stakeholders and the public on the identified emerging issues through appropriate reporting and communications.

The first annual cycle (2018 – 2019) has now been successfully completed.  In its first year FORENV focussed on identifying emerging issues at the environment-social interface.  The 10 priority emerging issues identified include topics such as: digitalisation and mobile communications as drivers of change in citizen activism, consumption behaviours and the way that people connect with nature; the emergence and divergence of new consumption patterns; the implications of populism and protectionism for international cooperation on environmental issues; and the role cities might play as ‘living labs’ to test social and technological innovations.

A final report for the first annual cycle has been published, together with infographics for each of the 10 emerging issues to help communicate the FORENV process and outcomes to a wide audience.

For further information please contact Owen White (Technical Director) or Paula Orr (Technical Director).