What has been done to promote a sustainable development within the European Union? What kind of policy approaches or initiatives have been developed at the European level in order to implement in a comprehensive way the objectives of Agenda 21? On behalf of the European Commission (DG Environment), IEEP – in association with Ecologic – has been commissioned to carry out the EU's implementation report. The draft report responds to all 40 chapters of Agenda 21 outlining a general assessment of the state of EU implementation as regards the objectives of the Agenda 21 as well as constraints, major challenges and recommendations for additional measures that could be taken at EC and international level to support further progress.

Background

At the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the international community agreed on an ambitious and comprehensive strategy to address environment and development challenges through a global partnership for sustainable development. The key framework around which future action was to be built was 'Agenda 21' covering each of the principal dimensions of sustainability - economic development, environmental protection, social justice, and democratic and effective governance. A decade later the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, brought together the world's leaders, this time to review to what extent the high expectations raised in Rio have been fulfilled over the past ten years. As part of the preparation for this World Summit the European Commission had to carry out a report describing its progress in implementing Agenda 21 since 1992. On behalf of the European Commission (DG Environment), IEEP – in association with Ecologic – has been commissioned to draft the EU's implementation report.

Aims of the project

The objective of the report is to provide an overview assessment of the progress regarding the implementation of the Agenda 21 within the European Union as well as to highlight key policy approaches and initiatives taken by the EU since 1992, and to present key messages for the future. The report responds to all chapters of Agenda 21 including one chapter dealing with global sustainability challenges. Each of the chapters consists of three parts. The first part gives a general assessment of the state of EU implementation as regards the objectives of Agenda 21, including an overview of accomplishments and constraints, as well as major challenges and opportunities. The second part consists of a general assessment of EU policy, approaches or actions taken, including some EU level examples of coherent or integrated policy approaches, private-public partnerships, and examples of engagement with civil society. The last part includes recommendations for additional measures that could be taken at EC and international level to support further progress. The report served as a basis for debates at EU level on the implementation of Agenda 21 as well as for the planned multi-stakeholder consultation event that took place in Spring 2002.