Comitetul Economic si Social European
The 7th LCTPi meeting, organized in cooperation with the EESC, will seek to demonstrate the progress that has been made since Paris, prepare for COP23 and focus on the actions that are being taken in Europe.
On 5 June the EESC organises an expert international conference in Prague at the European Commission premises, where it will present the opinion: "Forum for the Sustainable Development“ and some other recommendations focused on the Agenda for Sustainable Development. There will be an opportunity to speak about the global level – UN and national level – as well as to present the views of the Czech Government Council for Sustainable Development. The conference 's last part will consist of a moderated discussion with examples of activities of the universities and organized citizens society.
With this hearing, the EESC wants to strengthen the role of climate justice, not only in the global dimension but also in domestic climate policies.
The EESC is drawing up an opinion on the Commission's recent communication dedicated to waste to energy. This public hearing aimed at gathering stakeholders' views on this critical aspect of the waste management and the transition towards a circular economy.
On 9 November 2016 the EESC and CoR organised a conference on balanced territorial development entitled "Cork+20: leaving rural areas behind is no longer an option". At stake was the European Commission's new rural development strategy, which would normally have to be inspired by the new Cork 2.0 Declaration that has been co-signed by stakeholders at the Cork conference on 5-6 September 2016.
Now is the time to put the Cork 2.0 Declaration into action.
The EESC opinion is the organized civil society's contribution to the follow-up of the Conference. At the public hearing on 3 May we discussed concrete actions for implementing the measures of the declaration. The trend towards a systematic prioritarization of urban areas across the whole set of EU sectoral policies must be reversed!
With a view to taking stock of the Action Plan's implementation, looking at next steps and discussing the goals and practicalities of a European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform, the EESC and the European Commission co-organised a conference which took place on 9-10 March in Brussels.
The severe economic crisis as well as the challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals require the EU to move forward with its strategic thinking beyond Europe 2020. The EESC intends to launch the debate with an EESC opinion on a long-term strategy for a sustainable Europe. The hearing on 1 March with experts and stakeholders should provide input for the further elaboration of the EESC opinion.
The EESC hearing on 14 February 2017 was an opportunity for all people who were interested in rural issues to meet, present work in progress and exchange ideas and knowledge – and get inspired by examples of successful projects and initiatives in other rural communities. Together we thought of better ways to empower the rural communities to play their full part in addressing vital policy areas such as food security, renewable energy, environmental protection and job creation.
The 22nd Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22), took place in Marrakech from 7 to 18 November 2016. On 8 December 2016, the EESC's Sustainable Development Observatory will organise a COP22 debriefing to discuss if the so called "COP of action" fulfilled its promises.
In 2016 the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), the French Committee for Sustainable Development (Committee 21 France - C21F) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) decided to work together to create a new international coalition on climate dedicated to multilevel and multi-stakeholder governance.
