Ευρωπαϊκή Οικονομική και Κοινωνική Επιτροπή
An interview with Nicoletta MERLO, one of the youngest members of the EESC. She is National Head of Youth Policies for CISL, one of the largest Italian trade union confederations, and represents her confederation on the Italian National Youth Council. In 2017 she started a European experience in the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), which led her to be elected, in 2019, as a member of the Bureau of the ETUC Youth Committee.
At its plenary session on 24 February, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) presented its opinion entitled 'Fit for 55': delivering the EU's 2030 Climate Target on the way to climate neutrality. The EESC has put forward concrete proposals to help accelerate the energy transition so as to enable the EU to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030.
At the request of the French Presidency of the Council of the EU, in the opinion on Food security and sustainable food systems adopted at its plenary session on 19 January 2022, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) identified the key levers for sustainable and competitive EU food production and for reducing dependence on imports while increasing the EU's protein autonomy.
On 22nd of April we celebrate the Earth Day to empower and expand the environmental movement. This year's emphasis is on supporting local communities, focusing on areas that are disproportionately affected by environmental issues.
The EESC NAT Section and its Sustainable Development Observatory are marking International Women Day 2021 by taking part in the #IWD2021 action to celebrate women's achievement, raise awareness against bias and take action for equality.
An interview with Maria Nikolopoulou, member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) from the Workers' Group, representing the Spanish trade union Comisiones Obreras. She is currently one of the Vice Presidents of the NAT Bureau and member of the Steering Group of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform.
In response to the Commission Communication Stepping up Europe's 2030 climate ambition, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) reaffirms that the Commission's decision to raise the EU's ambition on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to at least 55% below 1990 levels by 2030 is the right one. However, in its opinion Stepping up Europe's climate ambition, the EESC insists on increasing efforts to achieve the intermediate targets, speeding up the process and placing the European citizens at the centre of climate action. Failing this, the EU will be at risk of missing its climate-neutral goal by 2050.
To discuss ways to accelerate action on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for a sustainable recovery, the EESC Section for Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment held a debate on 15 December in connection with the Europe Sustainable Development Report 2020, published on 8 December. The report is a joint initiative by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), in collaboration with the EESC.
In 2021, UN Secretary-General António Guterres will convene a Food Systems Summit as part of the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The Summit will focus on the the fact that we all must work together to transform the way the world produces, consumes and thinks about food.
The unprecedented mobilisation of civil society stakeholders at the 2015 COP21 in Paris which resulted in reaching a historic agreement on keeping a global temperature rise well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, demonstrated that climate governance and climate action rely heavily on the grassroots approaches of local climate actors, such as trade unions, companies, cities, communities.
