Friends of the Earth Europe (FoEE) is the European branch of the world's largest grassroots environmental network, Friends of the Earth International (FOEI). It includes 33 national organizations and thousands of local groups.
The Friends of the Earth Europe office in Brussels fulfills a number of functions. It represents the network's member groups towards the European institutions aiming to influence EU-policymaking; raises public awareness of environmental issues; runs capacity building projects for its membership, and is a secretariat for its 33 national members. The FoEE office is located in a sustainable building housing Belgian and European NGOs near the European Parliament in Brussels.
FoEE Member organisations
Campaigns
The current campaign priorities of Friends of the Earth Europe are: Climate justice and energy Food, agriculture and biodiversity Economic justice Resource justice and sustainability
Climate justice and energy
Friends of the Earth Europe is "working to create the much-needed, fair and urgent transition to a fossil fuel free Europe. It wants to deliver a 100% renewable, no nuclear, super energy-efficient, zero-fossil-fuel Europe by 2030."
The organization calls for radical improvements in energy efficiency, an accelerated phase-out of fossil fuels, a dramatic shift towards community-owned renewable energies, and reduced overall resource consumption and lifestyle changes. This often means targeting extractive industries, especially those who are involved in fracking and tar sands extraction.
Food, agriculture and biodiversity
The organization has been a key participant in the European movement against GMOs which has been successful in stopping the planting of GM crops across most of Europe.
The organization advocates for more environmentally friendly, equitable and sustainable farming. This includes campaigning to reform the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in ways that can mitigate climate change emissions (especially through reducing reliance on soy imports for livestock), protect biodiversity, and stop the collapse of family farming in Europe's agriculture sector.
FoEE has also been active in its opposition to EU trade deals, such as the CETA agreement with Canada and TTIP with the US, because of a belief that those trade deals do not support human rights and the environment.
One of FoEE's campaigns aims to protect nature and biodiversity by supporting local groups in their preservation initiatives.
Economic Justice
Friends of the Earth Europe's economic justice program is occupied with the influence of companies over EU decision-making and the economic, social and environmental consequences of corporate practices. It works to expose cases of corporate capture of EU regulation and examples of the influence of corporate interests over EU policy process which often results in a lack of regulation or weak regulation.
The program looks into the issue of European companies which have subsidiaries outside of Europe. Such subsidiaries of multinational companies often fail to respect EU laws and workers’ rights when operating abroad, and victims too often do not have access to justice. It campaigns for guarantees that companies abide by the same safety and social standards for their workers and facilities outside of Europe as in Europe; and that European companies are held accountable for their practices outside of Europe, in particular in cases of abuses.
In the area of lobby transparency, FoEE looks at how companies exert their influence over and sometimes directly shape decision-making in the EU. It campaigns in favor of transparency in business influence and more balanced representation of stakeholders in EU policy making. FoEE has been active in exposing cases of revolving door scandals, misleading lobby registrations and deceptive lobby practices. It has been lobbying EU Commission and Parliament in favor of stricter EU legislation in order to close the current loopholes and prevent such scandals.
Resource justice and sustainability
FoEE recognizes and promotes the environmental, economic and social benefits of reducing Europe's resource consumption. They focus on reducing Europe's land, water, materials and carbon use – including the embedded resources Europe consumes beyond its borders.
The organization promotes the reuse and recycling of materials, opposes incineration, and is calling for the full implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the EU 2030 Agenda.