The document summarizes a report from the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) that provides policy recommendations for the next European Commission and Parliament to advance sustainability. It outlines the urgent need for action given scientific evidence of environmental crises. The report includes 15 papers on sustainability challenges and recommendations in areas like prosperity, well-being, nature, and peace/security. It calls for adopting science-based targets, mainstreaming sustainability, strengthening governance, and transforming sectors like energy, agriculture, and finance.

2. • More than a hundred
academics experts
from civil society,
private sector and local
authorities
• 15 papers covering a
range of sustainability
challenges aimed a
providing science-
policy solutions for a
more sustainable
Europe
• Series of concrete
policy
recommendations
inspiring political
parties, candidates and
European institutions
ahead of the next
commission and
parliament

3. www.ieep.eu @IEEP_eu
All is pointing in the same
direction. Huge gap between
BAU and what is required by
2030 and 2050. Urgent to
rethink our approach and act
now.
“Limiting global warming to 1.5ºC requires
rapid, far reaching and unprecedented
changes in all aspects of society.” (IPCC)
A “biological annihilation” of wildlife in
recent decades means a sixth mass
extinction in Earth’s history is under way
(National Academy of Sciences).
“More than 75 percent of Earth’s land areas
are substantially degraded, undermining the
well-being of 3.2 billion people” (IPBES)
A new context:
Science, politics
and society
• Need for a new framing for
Europe’s future in light of
existential crisis and Sibiu summit
• New political opportunities:
operationalisation of Paris
agreement and SDGs
• Changes in public opinion (single
use plastics, veganism,
consciousness of impacts of climate
change)

4. Think 2030 model of change
More ambitious and
evidence-based
sustainability agenda
for the next European
Commission and next
European parliament
Timely production of policy-
relevant body of evidence
New forum for discussing
sustainability issues in
Europe
New network of
sustainability think tanks in
Europe, businesses, local
authorities and civil society
FINAL OUTCOMES
INCREASED CAPACITY
More effective
sustainability think tank
sector/academia in
Europe, becoming a
catalyst for change
IMPROVED GOVERNANCE
Stronger policy/science
interface on sustainability
issues in Europe
INTERMEDIARY OUTCOMES
Awareness raising of
European decision-makers
and influencers
Better informed citizens
BETTER KNOWLEDGE
Greater clarity regarding
2030 sustainability
opportunities and
challenges in Europe
including interlinkages
MORE EFFECTIVE
INFLUENCING
Engagement of decision-
makers and influencers
with the sustainability
agenda
IMPACT
Europe’s post-2020 agenda: well-being at the centre

5. Cross-cutting recommendations
• Science-based targets to 2030 based on a 2050 analysis
• Immediate actions, with a transition plan from now to 2030
• A stronger policy-science interface (IPCC aligned to SDGs)
• Closing the implementation and accountability gap
• EMAS+ and sustainable finance action plan
• empowerment of local authorities
• role of EU institutions (EEA, EP, EC, Council)
• access to environmental justice
• Reinventing the policy tool box (e.g. taxation, green public procurement)
• The “glocal challenge” (interdependency between Europe and the world)
• A plan for sustainable consumption, creating an EU and associated Member State
regulatory framework conducive to ambitious front-runner initiatives.

6. www.ieep.eu @IEEP_eu
Prosperity
• Adopt a green macro-economic and monetary framework and a clean
growth plan, including:
• Major environmental fiscal and public procurement reforms
• An EMAS+ certification scheme for European companies
• An enabling framework for eco-innovation
• The full implementation of the sustainability finance action plan
• Implement a coherent mid-century decarbonisation strategy,
including:
• A credible long-term pricing pathway for carbon including a
carbon floor price
• Mission-oriented sectoral industrial strategies with specific
objectives and filling gaps in the existing EU and national policy
frameworks to guarantee the required transformation (including
transport, agriculture, etc.).
• Greater resilience through a more effective adaptation
framework
• Build on the current circular economy package by developing clear
targets and timelines to reduce the material consumption in the
European economy.
• Adopt a set of coherent and synergistic policies to transform the food
and agriculture sector, including a new social contract with farmers,
reformed governance and fresh approaches to the consumption as well
as production dimensions.

7. www.ieep.eu @IEEP_eu
Wellbeing
• Adopt a comprehensive EU environmental health policy, including a
credible response to multiple crises, including air pollution as well
unhealthy and unsafe food.
• Integrate sustainability considerations within reformed tax and social
protection systems.
• Build an effective European Social Pillar in support of Just Transition
• Ensure the adequate representation of the interests of both youth and
future generations during the path to 2050, by establishing an EU
Guardian for future generations.
• Design a strategy to ensure not only cities but also rural communities
become more inclusive, resilient and sustainable
• Close the knowledge gap regarding the interlinkages between poverty,
multidimensional inequality (generation, geography, gender, race,
income) and sustainability in Europe through research and funding for
socially innovative projects.
Model of growth?
De-siloing tax reform
debates?
More specific
Recommendations for
cities and rural areas?

8. www.ieep.eu @IEEP_eu
Nature
• Protect Europe’s natural capital, including its animals and plants, oceans
and fresh water and soil, through:
• A new target to halt biodiversity loss by 2030 and to restore 15%
of degraded ecosystems, supported by:
• Programmes of action in the key sectoral policies, including the
CAP, the CFP and energy supply;
• Allocating more resources at the EU and national levels to
biodiversity goals;
• Increasing EU action to tackle global biodiversity loss.
• A new Value Based Approach to oceans.
• A sustainable substitution of fossil resources by bio-based resources
through technological, socio-economic and institutional innovations, as
well as changes in behaviour and consumption.
• A fresh review of the challenge of improving soil management in
Europe.
• An increased focus across the Member States on implementing their
WFD commitments more fully and rapidly and stimulating more
investment in water conservation and catchment management,
reducing the need for treatment plants.

9. www.ieep.eu @IEEP_eu
Peace and security
• Adopt a comprehensive horizon scanning and early warning system for
environmental and climate change risks for Europe’s neighborhood and other regions
of strategic interest.
• Broaden the scope and increase the ambition of European climate diplomacy.
• Integrate a security lens within flagship environmental policies.
• Adopt dedicated initiative(s) to improve the awareness and capacity of the EU and
Member States defense sectors (e.g. military forces) regarding the role of climate and
environment in conflict prevention and resolution.
• Reform trade policies
• Using the bilateral trade agenda to push for science-based harmonization and
ratcheting up of standards over time
• Developing a comprehensive trade agreement with the UK
• Proposing a new blueprint for the WTO
• Pushing for the internalization of externalities in all relevant environmental
fora
• Continue to strengthen European production and consumption standards
• Harness Europe’s development assistance for sustainability worldwide by
• Carrying out an assessment of the EU’s performance vis-à-vis delivery of SDG
implementation in third countries
• Targeting EU external assistance based on the status of SDG delivery in third
countries.
• Integrating a stronger resource-efficiency dimension in Europe’s ODA
• Exploring how to strengthen and then operationalise the EU’s action plan for
resilience.