CEP to deliver a new EEA project on transformations of socio-ecological systems

CEP has been awarded a new EEA project to take stock of the knowledge base in the field of transformations of socio-ecological systems of relevance for EU policy making

Collingwood Environmental Planning has been commissioned by the European Environment Agency (EEA) to conduct a literature review to take stock of the most recent findings on ‘transformations of socio-ecological systems’ of relevance for EU policy making. CEP will be working in partnership with cChange.   

This new project has been awarded under the CEP-led framework service contract for the EEA which provides assistance on forward-looking analysis, sustainability assessments and systemic transitions.  

Transformations in socio-ecological systems can be understood as an umbrella term for more specific and actionable concepts, approaches and solutions-oriented knowledge related to sustainability transitions. Over the coming years, as part of work to build the knowledge base for the next European Environment State and Outlook Report (SOER, 2025), the EEA would like to develop the evidence base related to transformations in socio-ecological systems, with a focus on its use in policy-relevant assessments.  

The project will focus on assisting the EEA to strengthen its understanding related to solutions-oriented knowledge on aspects such as ecological resilience, nature-based solutions and green infrastructure, ecosystem-based management, and social justice.  Within these areas, the stock taking will focus on: 

• improving the conceptual understanding of these concepts and approaches; 

• practical evidence, including case studies, on the application and implementation of the specific concepts; and,  

• potential implications for policy and governance in dealing with sustainability transformations. 

For more information please contact CEP’s Owen White (Technical Director) or Spela Kolaric (Senior Consultant) for more information.   

CEP to deliver a new EEA project on Urban Sustainability

CEP has been awarded a new project to assist the EEA in finalising various products on urban transitions towards sustainability

Europe’s State of Environment Report (SOER2020) published at the end of 2019 by the European Environment Agency (EEA) has created a clear mandate for the EEA to work at the urban level.  The SOER2020 built on the previous report in 2015 that concluded “Living well within environmental limits will require fundamental transitions in core societal systems, including food, energy, mobility, urban, fiscal and finance systems. To achieve such purpose profound changes in dominant practices, policies and thinking are needed”.

In 2017 the EEA established a stakeholder process to help develop its integrated work on urban transitions towards sustainability.  This work has been supported throughout by a CEP-led team which has undertaken three previous EEA contracts on urban sustainability.  These projects have been awarded under the CEP-led framework service contract for the EEA which provides assistance on forward-looking analysis, sustainability assessments and systemic transitions.

Continuing this work, a CEP-led team will be undertaking a new contract to support the final preparation of various products including: a report on environmental sustainability in cities (ESIC); a report on the analysis of eight urban environmental sustainability nexuses; and a report on drivers of urban environmental transitions.  CEP will again be working in partnership with LSE Cities , and will be supported by experts from cChange.

For more information please contact CEP’s Ric Eales (Managing Director) or Rolands Sadauskis (Senior Consultant) for more information.

Flagship European State of Environment Report published by the European Environment Agency

CEP have contributed to the newly published SOER 2020 report

The European Environment Agency (EEA) has published the flagship report on the State of Environment in Europe (SOER 2020).  The report emphasises the sustainability challenges Europe faces and the need for urgent systemic solutions.  As well as providing an overview of key environment and climate trends, the report also reflects on the influence of global trends on Europe’s environment and the key emerging drivers of environmental change.

CEP has provided analytical support to the EEA in their preparation of SOER 2020 through a number of contracts lead and delivered by CEP experts or managed by CEP under the EEA framework on forward looking analysis, sustainability assessments and systemic transitions.  These include projects such as updating the knowledge base on global megatrends; identifying and assessing drivers of change; and analysing critical interactions between environmental SDGs from a European perspective.

For more information please contact CEP’s Owen White.

“Europe’s environment is at a tipping point. We have a narrow window of opportunity in the next decade to scale up measures to protect nature, lessen the impacts of climate change and radically reduce our consumption of natural resources.”

— Hans Bruyninckx, EEA Executive Director

“The State of the Environment Report is perfectly timed to give us the added impetus we need as we start a new five-year cycle in the European Commission and as we prepare to present the European Green Deal.”

— Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice President of the European Commission

CEP-led Consortium delivers second set of European Environment Agency contracts

CEP-LED CONSORTIUM SUCCESSFULLY DELIVERS SECOND SET OF CONTRACTS UNDER EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY FRAMEWORK CONTRACT

CEP is pleased to announce the successful completion of the second set of five contracts awarded during 2018 under the CEP-led framework service contract for the European Environment Agency (EEA) which provides assistance to the consolidation and update of the knowledge base on global megatrends and resource nexus in support of SOER 2020 (the European Environment State and Outlook Report) [1].

The five most recent projects have again had the overarching objective of supporting the framing and content of SOER 2020 by building on the first set of seven contracts to further consolidate the evidence and knowledge base across a range of topics as well as providing new analysis.  

Three projects have directly followed-on from contracts delivered under the first set:

·         The first [2], led by CEP on ‘Drivers of Change’, involved the development and implementation of an analytical framework for identifying and analysing the implications of drivers of change on consumption and production systems in Europe.  This contract built on our previous work on global megatrends and the resource nexus. 

·         The second follow-on contract has supported EEA in the development of the knowledge-base and reporting related to sustainability transitions.  As part of this contract CEP coordinated research and reporting into the empirical description of food, energy and mobility systems in Europe. 

 ·         The third follow-on project, led by CEP, was on urban sustainability and continued our previous work developing a new framework for urban sustainability assessment and supporting the EEA in running related stakeholder events. 

In addition, two specific contracts represented new areas of work.  One identified and characterised critical interactions between environmental SDGs from a European perspective.  CEP provided expert advice on methodology development and developed a report on the implications of the key project findings for EU research, policy and governance.  The other, led by CEP, supported the development of an EEA report, planned for publication in 2019, on the linkages between the environment and quality of life in EEA member countries.  CEP’s contribution to the report focuses on environmental health across Europe, environmental risks to health and the environmental benefits to health and well-being.

All the projects were completed between May and December 2018 and have helped EEA by providing critical inputs, often to tight timescales, to support the drafting of SOER 2020, as well as developing new knowledge and reporting on environmental challenges for Europe from a systems and transitions perspective.

For more information please contact CEP’s Owen White, the overall Framework Contract Manager, or Dr Bill Sheate, the Framework Contract Director.

[1] Awarded in May 2017, CEP has now overseen the preparation and delivery of a total of twelve projects awarded under the framework contract to date.  CEP has led the delivery of seven of the twelve projects delivered so far, including overall project management, technical lead on research tasks, and preparing reporting to summarise findings to provide maximum support to the EEA in relation to SOER 2020.  CEP’s work on these projects has involved collaboration with a diverse range of partners including universities and research institutions, consultancies, national environmental agencies and European networks of experts (such as the Eionet network of foresight experts).

[2] Assistance to the development of the report ‘Drivers of change and their implications on the European environment – A systems-based overview’ and to the extension of the analysis of European policies through the resource nexus lens

CEP delivering EEA workshop on urban sustainability

CEP delivering workshop to support EEA’s assessment of urban sustainability

For the first time, the European Environment Agency (EEA) will be explicitly addressing urban sustainability in the European Environment State and Outlook Report for 2020 (SOER2020). As part of CEP's current framework contract with the EEA on forward-looking analysis, sustainability assessments and systemic transitions, CEP in partnership with LSE Cities, PBL and cChange is currently undertaking a contract on urban sustainability to support this aspect of SOER2020. Specifically, the project is building on the knowledge base and other deliverables from a previous contract undertaken by CEP and will deliver an analytical framework and select nexus analysis for urban sustainability assessments 2019-2020. Another important aim of this project is to develop the approach to an urban sustainability meta-benchmarking exercise.

On Thursday 13th September, CEP's Ric Eales and Rolands Sadauskis together with partners from LSE Cities and PBL are running a one-day workshop with EEA experts in Copenhagen to facilitate their input to the ongoing work.

CEP-led Consortium delivers first set of European Environment Agency contracts

CEP-LED CONSORTIUM SUCCESSFULLY DELIVERS FIRST SET OF CONTRACTS UNDER EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY FRAMEWORK CONTRACT

CEP is pleased to announce the successful completion of the first seven contracts awarded under the CEP-led framework service contract for the European Environment Agency (EEA) which provides assistance to the consolidation and update of the knowledge base on global megatrends and resource nexus in support of SOER 2020 (the European Environment State and Outlook Report).

Awarded in May 2017, CEP has overseen the preparation and delivery of seven projects awarded under the framework contract to date.  The seven projects have had the overarching objective of supporting the framing and content of SOER 2020 by consolidating the evidence and knowledge base across a range of topics as well as providing new analysis to assist in the framing of the content of SOER 2020.  Examples of stock-taking and updating of EEA’s knowledge base include in relation to outlooks across multiple environmental themes (second specific contract), planetary boundaries (third specific contract), global megatrends and the resource nexus (fourth specific contract), and an assessment of the knowledge base on society’s dependence on natural capital (fifth specific contract).  The development of new assessment frameworks included the development of an integrated approach to support urban sustainability assessments (first specific contract) and research into the implications of sustainability transitions research for policy and governance (sixth specific contract).  The seventh specific contract provided a review of different perspectives on quality of evidence to inform EEA's future research.

All the projects were completed between September 2017 and March 2018 and have helped EEA by exploring what is, and is not, possible in terms of SOER 2020, which is intended to diverge from previous European environmental reporting by exploring environmental issues from a systems perspective and proposing a transitions governance approach to addressing Europe’s environmental challenges.

CEP led the delivery of four of the seven projects delivered so far, including overall project management, technical lead on research tasks, and preparing reporting to summarise findings to provide maximum support to the EEA in relation to SOER 2020.  CEP’s work on these projects has involved collaboration with a diverse range of partners including universities and research institutions, consultancies, national environmental agencies and European networks of experts (such as the Eionet network of foresight experts).

For more information please contact CEP’s Owen White, the overall Framework Contract Manager, or Dr Bill Sheate, the Framework Contract Director.

CEP-led consortium to deliver two new EEA projects focusing on SDGs and transitions governance

CEP-led consortium has been awarded two new EEA projects which will explore interactions between Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and develop a report on governance and policy for sustainability transitions

Two new projects have been awarded under the CEP-led framework service contract for the European Environment Agency (EEA) which provides assistance on forward looking analysis, sustainability assessments and systemic transitions.

The first project, led by SEI Stockholm, will provide the EEA with assistance in identifying and characterising critical interactions between environmental SDGs and from a European perspective.  CEP’s role will be to provide expert advice on methodology development and to lead the development of a report on the implications of the key project findings for EU research, policy and governance.

The second project, led by the Sustainable Consumption Institute at the University of Manchester, will develop a report on the implications of research into sustainability transitions and transformations for European policy and governance.  CEP will coordinate the characterisation of three key ‘socio-technical’ systems (food, energy and mobility), working with project partners Fraunhofer ISI and the German Environment Agency.

For more information please contact CEP’s Owen White, the overall Framework Contract Manager, or Dr Bill Sheate, the Framework Contract Director.