Heat waves, droughts, floods - Europe was not spared from extreme weather events in 2018. To ensure that Europeans can still live a prosperous, healthy life in on a peaceful continent in the year 2030, the EU must take urgent measures to reduce resource consumption and pollution. The newly established Think2030 platform, of which Ecologic Institute is a member, has gathered 30 policy recommendations to this end – they are available for download.

The recommendations point out that Europe needs a fast, collective redirection and a new, coherent strategy to address worsening environmental issues including species extinction and climate change. The European elections in 2019 and the appointment of a new European Commission offer the opportunity to establish a sustainable vision for the European Union based on prosperity, peace, security and environmental protection. The "Think2030" initiative aims to help seize this opportunity: as a group of research institutions and civil society organisations brought together by Ecologic Institute's sister think-tank IEEP, it offers 30 actions that policy makers can implement to create a sustainable Europe. These are based on a series of separate thematic analyses.

Ecologic Institute provides support to the initiative as a whole, and participated in its launch conference. Individual colleagues commented on the analyses as reviewers. Climate policy expert Matthias Duwe produced a paper on EU climate change mitigation policy through 2050 together with Lola Vallejo, head of the climate department at the French research institute IDDRI.

Check out the following Think2030 materials:

• Summary of the report [pdf, 700 kB, English], the synthesis paper and the report package on all 30 policy recommendations.
• Background information on European decision-making timetables, sustainable consumption and European environmental policy
• Infographics "Reaching sustainable consumption in Europe by 2050", "Moving forward: framing the post-2020 European agenda" and "Living a "good life" - how are European countries performing?" illustrate the complex issues and political solutions.