The European environmental research and innovation policy is a set of strategies, actions and programmes to promote more and better research and innovation for building a

resource-efficient Resource efficiency is the maximising of the supply of money, materials, staff, and other assets that can be drawn on by a person or organization in order to function effectively, with minimum wasted (natural) resource expenses. It means using the ...

and

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...

resilient society and economy in sync with the

natural environment The natural environment or natural world encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally, meaning in this case not artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses t ...

. It is based on the Europe 2020 strategy for a smart,

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

and inclusive economy and it realises the European Research Area (ERA) and Innovation Union in the field of environment. The aim of the European environmental research and innovation policy is to contribute to a transformative agenda for Europe in the coming years, where the quality of life of the citizens and the environment are steadily improved, in sync with the competitiveness of businesses, the societal inclusion and the management of resources.

Main features

The European environmental research and innovation policy has a multidisciplinary character and involve efforts across many different sectors to provide safe, economically feasible, environmentally sound and socially acceptable solutions along the entire

value chain A value chain is a progression of activities that a firm operating in a specific industry performs in order to deliver a valuable product (i.e., good and/or service) to the end customer. The concept comes through business management and was f ...

of human activities. To reduce resource use and environmental impacts whilst increasing competitiveness requires a decisive societal and technological transition to an economy based on a sustainable relationship between nature and human well-being. The availability of sufficient

raw materials A raw material, also known as a feedstock, unprocessed material, or primary commodity, is a basic material that is used to produce goods, finished goods, energy, or intermediate materials that are feedstock for future finished products. As feeds ...

is addressed as well as the creation of opportunities for growth and new jobs. Innovative options are developed in policies ranging across science, technology, economy, regulations, society and citizens’ behavior, and governance. Research and innovation activities improve the understanding and forecasting of climate and environmental change in a systemic and cross-sectoral perspective, reduce uncertainties, identify and assess vulnerabilities, risks, costs, mitigation measures and opportunities, as well as expand the range and improve the effectiveness of societal and policy responses and solutions.

International context

The European environmental research and innovation policy was placed in the context of the process at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

to develop a set of

Sustainable Development Goals The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked objectives designed to serve as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future".United Nations (2017) R ...

(SDGs) that were agreed at the Rio+20 Conference on

Sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The ...

in 2012 and are now integrated into the United Nations development agenda beyond 2015. These goals have succeeded the

Millennium Development Goals The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 that had been established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millenn ...

and are universally applicable to all Nations, hence also to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

and its Member States.

Implementation through Framework Programmes

The implementation of the European environmental research and innovation policy relies on a systemic approach to innovation for a system-wide transformation. For large extent, it is carried out through the Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development. The current Framework Programme is called

Horizon 2020 The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the Europea ...

and environmental research and innovation is envisaged across the entire programme with an interdisciplinary approach. Current price estimates suggest that more than 6,5 € billion per year could be made available for activities related to sustainable development during the duration of Horizon 2020, addressing both research and innovation differently from previous FPs.It is expected that at least 60% of the overall Horizon 2020 budget should be related to sustainable development, and that climate-related expenditure should exceed 35% of the budge
"Horizon 2020 – the EU's new research and innovation programme"
''

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

'', Brussels, 3 December 2013. Retrieved on 18 August 2015. Horizon 2020 is open to cooperation with researchers and innovators world-wide in order to foster co-design and co-creation of solutions that may have a global impact. New calls for research and innovation proposals have been opened on 14 October 2015. Information is contained in the Horizon 2020 participant portal.

References

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External links

"European environmental research and innovation""European Commission - Innovation Union"
Environmental research Policies of the European Union Innovation 2010s in the European Union