We face challenging times, marked by the impacts of the war in Ukraine, energy security concerns, rising prices, ever more costly climate impacts and an already frail economy recovering from the effects of the pandemic. In this complex picture of multiple crises, how can Europe deliver its ambitious policy goals set under the European Green Deal?

European environment network conference 2023

The conference 'Delivering the European Green Deal in unprecedented times' took place on 22 March 2023 in Brussels and highlighted Member States' insights and experience in turning EU policy goals into concrete actions.

Under the European Green Deal, the European Union and its Member States set ambitious policy targets to achieve sustainability by 2050. A long list of policy initiatives has been tabled in recent years, and other key policy initiatives and packages are in the pipeline. Despite the current volatility, vulnerability and uncertainty, Europe needs to implement these policies to stay on its course towards sustainability.

What kind of knowledge do we need to turn EU policies into concrete actions? What insights can we get from national and regional authorities across Europe? To foster targeted policy dialogue and to showcase how the EEA and its network Eionet can contribute to the implementation of EU policies, the EEA organised the European Environment Network Conference 'Delivering the European Green Deal in disrupting times' on 22 March 2023 in Brussels and online.

Conference highlights

We were joined by a range of inspiring and influential speakers, such as Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans; Belgian Federal Minister for Climate, Environment, Sustainable Development and Green Deal, Zakia Khattabi; Vice President (Europe) of Breakthrough Energy, Ann Mettler; UNDP Administrator, Achim Steiner; EEA Executive Director Hans Bruyninckx, and many others. 

Through panel discussions, keynote addresses and interviews, we addressed some of the most pressing environmental governance issues of our time, such as sustainability transitions, the simultaneous challenges we face in achieving the Green Deal, and providing actionable knowledge to policymakers.

The discussions were followed by hundreds of in-person and online participants, including on social media under the Twitter hashtag #EUGreenDealEEA.

See conference booklet for more information on the agenda and speakers.

Practical information

  • Date and time: Wednesday, 22 March 2023, 08:45 AM - 05:00 PM, followed by a networking cocktail reception
  • Venue: Sparks, 60 Rue Ravenstein, 1000 Brussels and online (Please note that physical attendance registration is now closed)
  • Online streaming: The event was streamed live on our YouTube channel
  • Language: English
  • About EEA and Eionet

    The European Environment Agency (EEA) is an agency of the European Union, tasked with providing concrete, independent information on the environment.  The European Environment Information and Observation Network (Eionet) is a partnership network of the EEA and its 38 member and cooperating countries.

    Together, the EEA-Eionet is the EU’s key environmental and climate knowledge hub, connecting 2,000 experts from over 400 national institutions, and contributing to the delivery of the European Green Deal by monitoring the progress towards targets and providing independent scientific advice to policymakers on the routes to achieving sustainability.