Please download the Document here

The Eighth Environment for Europe (EfE) Ministerial Conference convened from 8 - 10 June 2016, in Batumi, Georgia. Ministers and heads of delegations from 44 countries in the UN Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) region and the representative of the European Commission (EC) attended alongside representatives from UN agencies, intergovernmental organizations, regional organizations and civil society.

Participants focused on two key issues: the green economy; and air quality and human health. Plenary sessions and parallel sessions of multi-stakeholder roundtables took place on both issues. During the Conference, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and UNECE launched the sixth Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-6) Assessment for the panEuropean region.

Throughout the Conference, participants stressed the role of the EfE process in supporting, implementing and achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in meeting commitments to the Paris Agreement on climate change. Some suggested the EfE could play a critical role in follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda.

The Conference agreed on a number of outcomes and adopted a Ministerial Declaration. On the green economy, participants endorsed the Pan-European Strategic Framework for Greening the Economy, and launched the Batumi Initiative on Green Economy (BIG-E), with 36 countries and organizations submitting more than 100 voluntary commitments to advance the green transition in the region. On air quality, 28 countries and organizations made voluntary commitments to the Batumi Action for Cleaner Air (BACA). On Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), delegates adopted the Batumi Ministerial Statement on ESD and the Framework for the future implementation of the UNECE Strategy for ESD.

For more Information, please download the Document here below: