Europe Strategy

The WRI Europe Strategy (2023-2027) positions the Europe office as a strategic hub to accelerate the global energy and nature transition. It focuses on three primary roles: driving positive change through leadership in sectors like food and energy efficiency, reducing Europe's own ecological footprint as a consumer, and acting as a partner for funding and knowledge. Key priorities include implementing the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), reducing the carbon footprint of meals via the Coolfood initiative, and developing a Distributional Impact Assessment Tool to ensure equitable transitions. The strategy also emphasizes leveraging Europe's circular economy leadership to improve mineral recycling for the clean energy transition and supporting sustainable ocean management through the Ocean Panel.

• WRI Europe operates in three distinct roles: as a driver of positive change in sectors like food and energy efficiency, as a consumer working to bring its ecological footprint "in line with planetary boundaries", and as a partner for change to secure funding and strategic knowledge.
• In the Food, Land and Water system, WRI aims to support the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) by facilitating collaboration between the EU and producer countries to avoid "negative impacts on small holders". Additionally, the Coolfood initiative targets the reduction of the carbon footprint of approximately 6 billion meals per year in Europe.
• Regarding the energy transition, WRI focuses on demand-side solutions to limit the primary minerals needed for clean energy, leveraging Europe's circular economy leadership to improve the recycling of "mineral-rich waste streams such as end-of-life energy equipment, electronics, and mining tailing".
• WRI's urban strategy for Europe involves acting as a knowledge partner for cities leading net-zero transitions and researching nature-based solutions to "cool cities down", as well as promoting holistic urban mobility strategies.
• To ensure social equity in the transition, WRI is developing a Distributional Impact Assessment (DIA) Tool to study how economic changes and policies "affect different groups of people in a society" and to minimize unintended socioeconomic consequences.
• WRI Europe manages several global platforms, including the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU), the Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE), the Nature Crime Alliance, and the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.

APA

van Veldhoven, S. (2023). Europe Strategy. World Resources Institute. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-05/wri-europe-strategic-plan-2023-27.pdf

Chicago

van Veldhoven, Stientje. Europe Strategy. World Resources Institute, 2023. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-05/wri-europe-strategic-plan-2023-27.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=van Veldhoven |first1=Stientje |title=Europe Strategy |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=2023 |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-05/wri-europe-strategic-plan-2023-27.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{vanveldhoven2023europe, author = {van Veldhoven, Stientje}, title = {{Europe Strategy}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2023}, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-05/wri-europe-strategic-plan-2023-27.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }