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New debate series by EEA: How does COVID-19 impact the environment and climate?

News Published 09 Sep 2020 Last modified 09 Sep 2020
2 min read
Photo: © Sebastian Škoić, REDISCOVER Nature/EEA
The European Environment Agency together with the network of the heads of Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA Network) today launch the first in a series of online high-level panel debates focusing on the impacts of COVID-19 and the challenges the pandemic poses in meeting long-term climate and environment goals.

We need to ensure that our recovery from the corona virus pandemic moves us to a future in line with the ambition of the European Green Deal. Faced with unprecedented challenges within a relatively short time frame, we need to act quickly and decisively. These online debates aim to share the existing knowledge and trigger action towards our shared European goals.

Hans Bruyninckx, EEA Executive Director

The aim of the debates is to contribute to policymaking by bringing the latest knowledge, research and issues to the attention of key stakeholders, including policymakers and influencers that are shaping the future in these uncertain times. Viewers can follow the debates which will be streamed on a regular basis between September and December on the EEA’s Facebook page.

In addition to the debate series, the EEA has also today put online a database of a number of studies, reports and other research from across Europe, looking at the impact of COVID-19 and the climate and environment. The database will be regularly updated as new research becomes available and these publications are shared with us by our partners, mainly in the European Environment Information and Observation Network (Eionet).

The database complements an already active Post Corona Planet platform, which aims to bring together knowledge and reflections from across Europe and beyond, and to facilitate an informed debate on how this pandemic affects our path towards a sustainable planet. In early April the EEA published a special COVID-19 air quality viewer to help assess how lockdown and related measures affected concentrations of air pollution.

Online Debates

The first debate ‘A sustainable recovery – national perspectives’ takes place on Wednesday, 9 September from 16.30-17.30 CEST (Copenhagen time).
Dirk Messner, President of the German Environment Agency (UBA) and Hans Mommaas, Director-General of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) will join our EEA Executive Director Hans Bruyninckx for the discussion on this issue.

To watch the event live, leave comments or questions, please go to the EEA's Facebook page. Additional information on the event is available on the  Facebook event page.

Information on the following upcoming debates will be shared on our debate corner. The debates will address topics such as sustainable recovery and the European green deal – the EU perspective, the scientific perspective, nature – planetary boundaries, air quality/ transport, environmental health, climate change, and strategic reflections on Europe’s environment in a post-COVID world.

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