News Latest news & announcements from IEEP

News from 2012

  • Commissioner Potočnik opens IEEP conference in Brussels

    IEEP organised a high-level conference on ‘Stepping up action for Europe’s environment’ on 4 December. The conference brought together a number of prominent speakers and participants from policy, business, academia and NGOs to reflect on the challenges and opportunities currently facing the EU and key priorities for the future.

  • Reforming environmentally harmful subsidies for a resource efficient Europe

    The EU has a long-standing commitment to removing or phasing out environmentally harmful subsidies (EHS). However, progress has been slow and EHS remain an issue in most EU countries. The Eurozone crisis and stagnating economic performance in many countries provide an opportunity to put new momentum behind this agenda.

  • IEEP conference on 'Stepping up action for Europe's environment'

    On 4 December, IEEP is organising a high-level conference to reflect on the challenges and opportunities facing the EU and the role and relevance of environmental policy.

  • Commission unveils the Water Blueprint

    The Water Blueprint proposes action to address 12 key problems for Europe’s waters. An IEEP led study found that improved guidance, information system, data exchange and funding were the best instruments to address many of these problems, with limited scope for new law.

  • Bioenergy and climate change: hard questions to answer

    We have a policy framework which will drive greater use of bioenergy to 2020 but with no associated guarantee of reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, concludes IEEP report.

  • Overdue rethink on biofuels undermined by industry lobby

    The Commission has finally taken half a step towards addressing the indirect land use change (ILUC) from biofuels. David Baldock, Director of IEEP, said, ‘it is very dispiriting to see that after such a long internal debate, the Commission has backed down in the face of intense pressure from the biofuel and farming industry. As a result, a hard fought agreement has been compromised.’

  • IEEP Director debates the potential risks of hydraulic fracturing

    David Baldock, Director of IEEP, along with Prof. Robert Mair of Cambridge University and Prof. Alan Riley of City University, spoke at a debate hosted by the Law Society in London on shale gas hydraulic fracturing on 9 October

  • EU budget debate: Some one trillion euro questions and answers

    Keti Medarova-Bergstrom, Senior Policy Analyst at IEEP, and Pawel Swidlicki, Research Analyst at Open Europe, put their heads together to identify why and where EU budgetary spending has got it wrong in the past and propose how roughly one trillion euros can better serve Europe's environment, economy and people in the next funding period.

  • Resource mobilisation at the heart of CBD COP discussions

    The eyes of the world’s biodiversity community are on Hyderabad as Parties to the Convention tackle the pressing challenges faced in implementing the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, including mobilising sufficient resources to translate the Plan into concrete action.

  • Designing RDPs fit for the environment

    Substantial changes to rural development regulation have been proposed which provide significant opportunities for Member States to deliver more for the environment. This report highlights some of these opportunities and sets out a series of principles and environmental priorities to help guide Member States in designing their future rural development programmes.

  • Warsaw workshop: Climate change mainstreaming in EU Cohesion Policy

    12 September, Warsaw: IEEP workshop provided Polish national and regional authorities with better understanding and knowledge of how to factor in climate change impacts and objectives in the future EU Cohesion Policy.

  • Exploring Belgium’s contribution to international climate finance

    What might be the Belgian contribution to the commitments made at COP15 and COP16 on potential sources of climate change finance? And how this might be implemented?

  • Refreshing Europe's water policy

    The latest edition of IEEP's newsletter is now available with a lead article on efforts to reinvigorate EU water policy. Plus CAP reform, nature in the Green Economy, using straw for biofuels, emissions trading revenues ...

  • After Rio, it’s up to us to shape the Future We Want

    Despite some new commitments on Green Economy, oceans, and Sustainable Development Goals, progress on much of the Rio agenda will depend on actions taken by individual countries, blocs (like the EU), companies and civil society networks.

  • Rio+20: Flagging the key issues however flimsy the agreement

    Key agendas for the future were given an airing in Rio, whilst the agreement itself remained timid, not least on the Green Economy. IEEP played an active role in keeping this issue in the Rio bloodstream.

  • Recognising the value of water and wetlands

    New TEEB study announced at Rio+20 to highlight how conservation and restoration of wetlands can benefit biodiversity and provide cost-effective and sustainable solutions in the context of a Green Economy.

  • The Green Economy and Natural Capital

    It’s time to account for the value of ecosystems and biodiversity in a Green Economy, this is IEEP’s message for the Rio Earth Summit.

  • EU waste law and better compliance: a journey into the unknown

    The EU needs to make a big push to secure better compliance with existing waste law. Non-implementation of EU waste law endangers human health and the environment, distorts competition, and is estimated to cost a total of €90 billion a year.

  • Europe's role at Rio

    Learn about the added value Europe could bring to Rio+20, plus greening Cohesion Policy, improving waste management, and much more in IEEP's Spring newletter

  • Unfolding the green ‘elements’ of the Commission’s Common Strategic Framework 2014-2020

    This policy brief analyses the Commission’s staff working document on the Common Strategic Framework for the 2014-2020 EU cohesion, rural development and fisheries funds. It discusses both the opportunities and weaknesses to advance the mainstreaming of climate change and the environment into the funds.