CEP at EU Green Week 2021

CEP to present EU Environmental Foresight project at EU Green Week 2021

CEP has been invited to lead a networking event on our current work in implementing the EU environmental foresight system as part of this year’s EU Green Week – Zero Pollution for healthier people and planet.

CEP’s Owen White will be leading the session which will present the FORENV system and the results of activities to date from the current annual cycle, which is focussing on emerging issues that will impact our ability to deliver a zero-pollution ambition.

The networking event will be held on the European Commission’s Green Week online conference space on Wednesday 2 June 2021.  Green Week is a public event and the programme and registration can be accessed here.  More information on CEP’s current work on FORENV can be found here.

For further information please contact Owen White (Technical Director)

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).

CEP has contributed to newly published study on the EU implementation of the Aarhus Convention

PUBLICATION OF A REPORT ON THE STUDY ON EU IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AARHUS CONVENTION IN THE AREA OF ACCESS TO JUSTICE IN ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS UNDER FRAMEWORK CONTRACT ENV E.4/FRA/2016/0003.

CEP was part of a team led by Milieu Ltd who carried out this project for DG Environment.  The report provides an evaluation of the performance of the current system of EU implementation of the Aarhus Convention in the area of access to justice in environmental matters, and a detailed assessment of possible options, to enable the Commission to decide how best to go forward in order to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Aarhus Convention by the EU.  The study is part of the Roadmap published by the Commission in May 2018 on the implementation of the Aarhus Convention in the area of access to justice in environmental matters.  Dr Clare Twigger-Ross from CEP provided expert input into the assessment of social impacts of the current situation as well as future options.

The report is available here.

For more information please contact Clare Twigger-Ross (Technical Director).