Today, the EU Wellbeing Economy coalition is launching its vision for an economic system focused on meeting the fundamental needs and rights of all. Friends of the Earth Europe is a proud member of the coalition and we strongly believe that the European Union should place human and planetary wellbeing at the heart of its …
New EU Raw Materials Plans Fail to Deliver Justice
The EU’s new Critical Raw Materials Regulation fails to tackle rampant overconsumption and deliver justice for communities facing mining Brussels, 16 March 2023 – The European Commission today published its Critical Raw Materials Regulation. It addresses both a new list of 16 ‘strategic raw materials’ and a list of 34 ‘critical raw materials’ the European …
Open letter: Crunch time for new EU laws on raw materials
Friends of the Earth Europe joined over 130 civil society organisations in sending a letter to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, to demand that the IFC stop using public taxpayer dollars to finance exploitative industrial agriculture.
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Austria’s new year’s resolution: Wellbeing within planetary limits
Nothing says “happy new year” like a bold and much-needed resource use reduction target. Following the Finnish and Dutch lead, the Austrian government is setting a new year’s resolution to systemically trim down on material footprint. This article was chiefly authored by the European Environmental Bureau – on their website here. Overconsumption is so last …
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New EU laws on raw materials: What they must address
The European Commission is developing new laws for certain raw materials. This “European Critical Raw Materials Act”, due to be published at the end of March 2023, will address certain materials that are of “strategic importance” across the EU economy, and of particular importance to the green and digital transitions (for example lithium). Friends of …
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The time is ripe for resource use reduction targets
Resource extraction and overconsumption are the central drivers of environmental degradation and interrelated social challenges, yet policy makers remain too shy to address them. A recent workshop organised by NGOs and think tanks looked at how to move the debate forward. Our core ecological problem is not climate change. It is overconsumption, with climate change …
The time is ripe for resource use reduction targetsRead more