161st CoR Plenary Session (19 - 20 June 2024)

From 15 to 17 May 2023 the European Parliament is hosting a conference on the topic 'Beyond Growth'. This study introduces participants and other stakeholders and interested parties to the debate on going beyond growth. Organised in two parts, the study first presents the status quo, with our reliance on economic growth as the main policy driver and gross domestic product (GDP) as a key economic measure, blind spots related to this reliance, and the need to address multiple system failures. It notes today's focus on research and innovation and describes measures already brought forward in the European Green Deal to this effect. The second part of the study explores the case for changing the underlying system drivers, and how system transformation may come about. It presents a range of existing or suggested policy frameworks to effect changes, before moving on to specific tools that are relevant for realising economic transitions. A recap of the debate and challenges rounds off the study.

The 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, ended on 13 December 2023. The conference operationalised the Loss and Damage Fund, which was established by COP27 in 2022. It also concluded the first global stocktake of climate action under the Paris Agreement and adopted a decision calling for accelerated short-term action and an orderly transition away from fossil fuels towards climate-neutral energy systems – the first-ever COP decision to address fossil fuels.

Climate change adaptation has been gathering momentum. At COP26 in 2021, the parties to the UNFCCC agreed to develop a work programme to deliver on the global goal on adaptation; at COP28, two years later, they adopted the framework for achieving that goal. Adaptation efforts should be led locally, by those most at risk, those who know the territory. The EU has been introducing tools, initiatives and strategies to enhance all aspects of climate change adaptation. While there are still barriers to the proper up-take of practical adaptation actions at a local level, in many cases solutions for overcoming them are already available.

Adopted in 2015 by the United Nations (UN), the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – 'the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all' – clearly links 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) to a series of targets to be reached by 2030. The 2030 Agenda includes a detailed mechanism for monitoring progress towards these targets. At its core are a number of quantified indicators for each target, which are regularly revised by the UN and other international agencies. These agencies and the EU provide support to national statistical services across the world in collecting data for the SDG indicators in order to gather reliable and comparable datasets. The data feed into the voluntary national reports that countries prepare to exchange best practice and advice on tackling the challenges they encounter in implementing their SDG strategies. Every year, a high-level political forum on sustainable development (HLPF) takes stock of both progress and weaknesses in implementation.

The Sustainable Development Goals were established in 2015 as part of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The signatories adopted a policy framework with 17 goals, addressing issues such as poverty, hunger, health and wellbeing, education, gender equality, environment and climate, strong institutions, peace and justice. Sustainable development aims at balancing social, economic and environmental aspects, seeing them as interconnected. The European Union (EU) has contributed to both setting and implementing the SDGs. It has committed to deliver on the 2030 Agenda through its internal and external policies, as outlined in the Towards a Sustainable Europe by 2030 reflection paper, the European Green Deal and the European Commission's political priorities and work programme. To measure their progress towards achieving the goals, EU Member States prepare voluntary national reviews, in line with UN guidelines.

This EPRS paper analyses how the European Commission has delivered on the policy agenda set by its President, Ursula von der Leyen, and her College of Commissioners when they took office in December 2019, and by further commitments taken over the years to address new issues, crises and challenges. It provides an end-of-term assessment of the delivery of the agenda's six key priorities, on the eve of the ninth legislature's last plenary session, two months before the 2024 European elections.

Many consequences of climate change are already hard to reverse, and extreme weather events will become more frequent in the future. That shows a need to discuss which climate impacts are difficult or impossible to adapt to, and a need to address losses and damages. All regions will be affected by climate change, but the extent of loss and damage will vary between locations. Although the concept of Loss and Damage (L&D) is not new, it is still quite vague and not well defined in climate policy. It has been discussed at many United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conferences of Parties (COP), and some mechanisms to support countries facing losses and damages have been established. One of the biggest challenges with L&D is the framing of the concept itself. Developing and developed countries have differing views on its definition as well as its urgency, which has resulted in limited progress on the issue. A key issue on which stakeholders find it hard to agree is financing L&D. Developed country stakeholders tend to argue that L&D could be financed by existing climate funds, insurance schemes, humanitarian aid, or risk management, while many developing countries call for financial mechanisms directed specifically towards L&D.