4Dec 2019
Flagship European State of Environment Report published by the European Environment Agency

CEP have contributed to the newly published SOER 2020 report

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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.

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“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
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“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
Team CEP
19Dec 2018
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

Team CEP
2Jul 2018
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.

Team CEP
24May 2018
New CEP-authored report on implications of global megatrends in the Western Balkans

Report authored by CEP on the implications of global megatrends for the Western Balkans published as a European Topic Centre Technical Report

CEP were part of a team commissioned by the European Environment Agency (EEA) to undertake a study: Water Use in the Western Balkans: regional outlooks and global megatrends* which was completed in autumn 2017. The team was led by the European Topic Center on Inland, Coastal and Marine Waters (ETC/ICM), which is managed by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research.

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The project had two main tasks: developing regional water-use scenarios; and identifying and assessing the implications of global megatrends for the Western Balkans region. CEP led the work related to global megatrends, which involved adapting and implementing a methodology and toolkit previously developed by CEP.

The final report from the work led by CEP has now been published as an ETC/ICM Technical Report: Water Use in the Western Balkans: regional outlooks and global megatrends, ETC/ICM Technical Report 2/2018.

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

* For more information on megatrends see here

Team CEP
11May 2018
CEP at European Foresight meeting

CEP’s Owen White and Rolands Sadauskis invited by the European Environment Agency to participate in European meeting of foresight experts

CEP have a track record of delivering projects related to global megatrends and their implications for Europe and European countries, including for example developing a methodology for understanding implications of global megatrends at the national level; and adapting and applying the methodology in a case study of global megatrend implications in the Western Balkans region.  CEP are also leading the current framework contract with the European Environment Agency (EEA) on forward-looking analysis, sustainability assessments and systemic transitions. 

In the context of this previous work and the framework contract, CEP’s Owen White and Rolands Sadauskis have been invited to participate in, present at and lead a working session for the EIONET (European Environment Information and Observation Network) expert meeting for the network of European experts in forward-looking information and services (NRC FLIS) to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark on 16th – 17th May 2018.

Specifically Owen and Rolands will be presenting proposals for a pending project on identifying and exploring key drivers of change in European socio-technical systems (food, energy, mobility) and what the implications of these drivers of change may be for the systems and Europe’s environment.  In addition a working session will be designed and facilitated by Owen and Rolands which will engage the experts in discussing key methodological challenges and identifying solutions.

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

Team CEP
24Apr 2018
CEP ran workshop on environmental risks and opportunities

CEP DELIVERED A WORKSHOP IN LJUBLJANA ON RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES FROM GLOBAL MEGATRENDS FOR THE STATE OF ENVIRONMENT IN SLOVENIA

CEP led an expert workshop in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 11th April 2018, as part of the project Influence of global megatrends on the state of environment in Slovenia.  This is the second workshop under this project for the Slovenian Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning, and the Slovenian Environment Agency.  This project is being delivered by CEP and is adapting and implementing a method toolkit previously developed (by CEP) for the European Environment Agency.

The workshop brought together 21 experts to identify risks and opportunities for the state of the environment in Slovenia from the global megatrend (GMT) implications prioritised in the scoping workshop held in November 2017.  The risks and opportunities focused on implications from two GMTs: GMT 7 (intensified global competition for resources), and GMT 9 (increasingly severe consequences of climate change) as analysed by the European Environment Agency in their European Environment State and Outlook Report (SOER) 2015.  Through a participatory workshop experts assessed the risks and opportunities in terms of the likelihood of their occurrence, the magnitude of their effect and the timescale over which they may occur. Response needs and gaps to address risks and maximise opportunities were also discussed.

Please contact Rolands Sadauskis (Project Manager) for further information on the project. CEP’s Owen White is the Project Director.

 

Team CEP
10Apr 2018
CEP is running a second workshop on the Influence of global megatrends in Slovenia

CEP WILL RUN A SECOND WORKSHOP ON THE INFLUENCE OF GLOBAL MEGATRENDS ON THE STATE OF ENVIRONMENT IN SLOVENIA

CEP is preparing an expert workshop which will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 11th April, 2018 as a part of the project Influence of global megatrends on the state of environment in Slovenia, carried out for the Slovenian Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning and the Slovenian Environment Agency. This project is being delivered by CEP and is adapting and implementing a method toolkit previously developed (by CEP) for the European Environment Agency.

The workshop will bring together national experts from various fields to discuss and assess the risks and opportunities for the state of environment and policy arising from the most relevant implications for environment in Slovenia of global megatrends (GMTs), as analysed by the European Environment Agency in their European Environment State and Outlook Report (SOER) 2015. The workshop will focus on two GMTs: GMT 7 (intensified global competition for resources), and GMT 9 (increasingly severe consequences of climate change). The event will also be an opportunity for the participants to follow-up on the discussion held at the scoping workshop in November 2017 in Ljubljana, the aim of which was to identify and prioritise the implications of GMTs in Slovenia.

For further information on the project please contact Rolands Sadauskis (Project Manager). CEP’s Owen White is the Project Director.

Team CEP
29Nov 2017
CEP to update the knowledge base for understanding global megatrends

CEP commissioned to review and update the knowledge base related to global megatrends

CEP has been commissioned to lead the fourth Specific Contract, let under the CEP-led framework service contract for the European Environment Agency (EEA), to provide Assistance to the consolidation and update of the knowledge base on global megatrends and resource nexus in support of SOER 2020.  CEP is also leading a specific task in this project to review and consolidate the knowledge base underlying EEA’s global megatrends.  This specific task is linked to other tasks being led by Futureline / SEI Stockholm (development of the knowledge base underpinning the concept of “resource nexus” within European consumption and production systems), and the University of Barcelona looking at the analysis of the resource demand implications associated with long-term trends and the synergies and trade-offs between selected European policy frameworks.

The CEP task draws on previous work by CEP on reviewing and updating GMTs and understanding their implications at the national and regional level in Europe.  This fourth contract provides an opportunity to bring together a number of key forward looking analyses and to develop an understanding of resource use and policy interactions and trade-offs in support of SOER 2020.

For more information on this project please contact Owen White or Rolands Sadauskis.

CEP’s Owen White is also the overall Framework Contract Manager and can provide general information on the framework.  CEP’s Dr Bill Sheate is the Framework Contract Director.

Team CEP
17Nov 2017
CEP ran workshop on global megatrends in Slovenia

CEP delivered workshop in Slovenia exploring the implications of global megatrends for the state of environment in Slovenia

CEP led an expert workshop in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 7th November 2017, as part of the project Influence of global megatrends on the state of environment in Slovenia. The work was undertaken for the Slovenian Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning, and the Slovenian Environment Agency.

The workshop brought together 28 experts in a scoping exercise intended to identify and prioritise the implications of global megatrends (GMTs), as analysed by the European Environment Agency in their European Environment State and Outlook Report (SOER) 2015. The workshop in Slovenia focused on two GMTs: GMT 7 (intensified global competition for resources), and GMT 9 (increasingly severe consequences of climate change). The implications identified were assessed in terms of the likelihood of their occurrence, the magnitude of their effect and the timescale over which they may occur.

The outputs of this workshop will inform a following second workshop to be held in 2018 as part of this project that will focus on the risks and opportunities for the state of environment in Slovenia arising from the GMT implications identified, and any existing policy gaps and needs.

CEP is leading the work related to global megatrends, adapting and implementing a method toolkit previously developed (by CEP) for the European Environment Agency.

Please contact Rolands Sadauskis (Project Manager) for further information on the project. CEP’s Owen White is the Project Director.

Team CEP
1Nov 2017
CEP explores links between global megatrends and planetary boundaries

CEP commissionED to explore relationships between global megatrends and planetary boundaries

CEP has been commissioned to lead the third Specific Contract, let under the CEP-led framework service contract for the European Environment Agency (EEA), to provide Assistance to the analysis of planetary boundaries at the European level, in support of SOER 2020.  CEP is also leading a specific task in this project to explore and map the relationships between global megatrends affecting Europe and planetary boundaries.  This specific task is linked to other tasks being led by GRID/University of Geneva (downscaling of the planetary boundaries to Europe) and SEI Stockholm/PBL looking at the interactions among planetary boundaries and the relationship with existing EU environmental policy measures.  

The CEP task draws on previous work by CEP on GMTs at the national and regional level in Europe, and on planetary boundaries and tipping points, as well as the inter-linkages among the planetary boundaries being examined by SEI/PBL.  This third contract provides an opportunity to bring together a number of key forward looking analyses undertaken by the EEA in support of SOER2020.

For more information on this project please contact Dr Bill Sheate or Rolands Sadauskis.  

CEP’s Owen White is the overall Framework Contract Manager and can provide general information on the framework.  CEP’s Dr Bill Sheate is the Framework Contract Director.

Team CEP