Friends of the Earth Europe

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 30 national organisations and thousands of local groups.^[1]

The Friends of the Earth Europe office in Brussels fulfils a number of functions. It represents the network’s member groups towards the European institutions aiming to influence EU-policymaking; raises public awareness around Europe on environmental issues; campaigns for sustainable solutions for the most pressing environmental and social challenges threatening people and planet; runs capacity building projects for its membership, and is a secretariat for its 30 national members. The FoEE office is located in Mundo-B – 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 Use and consumption
• Sustainable EU funds

Climate justice and energy

• FoEE’s European Big Ask climate change campaign^[2] was launched in February 2008 following a successful campaign of the same name by Friends of the Earth in the UK which is widely credited with getting the UK government to introduce the Climate Change Bill.^[3][4][5] The Big Ask brings together FoEE member groups across Europe to campaign for national climate change legislation. The launch of the European Big Ask^[6] was supported by Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and the European Environment Commissioner at the time, Stavros Dimas. The campaign has different names in different countries.

Food Agriculture and biodiversity

Economic Justice

Friends of the Earth Europe’s economic justice programme is looking into the influence of companies over EU decision-making and the economic, social and environmental consequences of their practices. The three streams of work are complementary, respectively looking at different aspects of the same issue. Together they are exposing cases of corporate capture of EU regulation and examples of the impact of the lack of regulation that often results from the influence of corporate interests over EU policy process. Friends of the Earth Europe campaigns for balanced policy-making putting people’s and nature’s interest first, at the expense of all-out companies’ profits. FoEE strategy combines direct advocacy among Brussels-based decision makers together with campaigning through reports, online petitions and media actions.

The economic justice programme is organised around three streams of work.

• Extractive industries
• Corporate Accountability and Financial Regulation
• Lobbying Transparency

Extractive Industries

The extractive industries campaign is looking into the destructive impacts of the activities of the European oil, gas and mining industry in developing countries. Most of the natural resources are located in Southern countries but their exploitation often handled by powerful companies based in Western countries, which fail to redistribute the wealth and benefits to local communities. Rather resource exploitation often leads to worrying environmental damage and corruption circles in developing countries. FoEE’s work aims at exposing how irresponsible company practices are affecting local communities and their environment^[7]. The programme is based on extensive exchange and cooperation between FoEE Office in Brussels and local Friends of the Earth groups around Southern countries. Facts and evidence collected on the ground are used to lobby the European institutions towards tighter EU regulation for European extractive companies.

Recent examples of campaign topics and activities include:

• Preventing Tar Sands from entering Europe^[8][9]
• Arcelor Mittal^[10][11]

Corporate Accountability

The corporate accountability campaign looks into the effects of the activities of European companies having subsidiaries outside of Europe. As multinational companies often fail to respect EU laws and workers’ rights when operating abroad, FoEE campaigns for the introduction of proper rules for business. These should guarantee that:

• European companies abide by the same safety and social standards for their workers and facilities outside of Europe as in Europe;
• European companies are held accountable for their practices outside of Europe, in particular in cases of abuses.

On this campaign, FoEE operates in the framework of the European Coalition for Corporate Justice, of which it is a founding member.

Lobbying Transparency

The lobby transparency campaign looks how companies exert their influence over and sometimes directly shape decision-making in the EU. It campaigns in favour of transparency around business influence^[12] and more balanced representation of stakeholders in EU policy making. These include:

• The introduction of a mandatory lobbying register in the EU^[13];
• Strengthened regulation on conflicts of interest and the revolving door for EU Commissioners and EU staff^[14];
• Reviewed rules to avoid the regulatory capture of expert groups and other high level groups that prepare the legislative work in the EU and de facto orientate EU decisions^[15].

FoEE has been active in exposing cases of revolving door scandals, misleading lobby registrations^[16]. or deceptive lobby practices. It has been lobbying EU Commission and Parliament in favour of stricter EU legislation in order to close the current loopholes and prevent such scandals. Examples of advocacy and campaign activities include:

• Reports
• Successful complaints for greater openness in the EU^[17][18]
• The annual Worst EU Lobbying Awards^[19]

Coalitions

FoEE is an active member of many coalitions working on environmental issues in Europe including:

• The Green 10^[20], consisting of BirdLife International (European Community Office), Climate Action Network Europe (CAN Europe), CEE Bankwatch Network,^[21] European Environmental Bureau (EEB), European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E), Health and Environment Alliance, Greenpeace Europe, International Friends of Nature (IFN), WWF European Policy Office and Friends of the Earth Europe.
• The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU): FoEE is one of the founding and current steering group members of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU), which was launched in Brussels in July 2005. ALTER-EU gathers 160 civil society groups that are concerned by the growing influence of the corporate sector on EU decision-making.
• The European Coalition for Corporate Justice
• Climate Action Network Europe
• Coolproducts

Youth Network (Young Friends of the Earth Europe)

In 2007 a youth network called Young Friends of the Earth Europe (YFoEE), was established by national Young Friends of the Earth groups affiliated to FoE member groups. YFoEE is an autonomous and self organised youth-led network, with structures and ways of working set and led by young people, yet retains strong links to Friends of the Earth Europe and the Friends of the Earth International Federation and their mission, vision and values^[22]

The YFoEE network unites youth organisations and youth groups working on social and environmental justice in Europe, and runs campaigning and educational activities for young people on a European level. It consists of youth member groups in 15 countries from both EU and Non EU countries, including Natur og Ungdom (Norway)^[23], BUNDjugend (Germany)^[24] or YFoE Ukraine^[25].

The key campaigning topic of the network since 2007 has been advocating for climate justice, in particular opposing what it considers to be false solutions to climate change^[26], such as nuclear energy^[27][28], and educating young people to create a youth movement for climate justice. In 2010, YFoEE hosted a parallel convergence to the COP16 UN Climate Talks in Cancún, Mexico, in Brussels, Belgium as an alternative forum to the International political negotiations and to build the regional European Youth Climate Movement^[29].

YFoEE has been active as part of the Youth Climate Movement and youth delegation at the UNFCCC international climate negotiations, and is one the founding members of European Youth Climate Movement^[30].

Ways of working

The YFoEE network is supported by a secretariat in the office of FoEE in Brussels, and coordinated by a Steering Group of 8 volunteers, elected from the YFoEE network annually at the Annual General Meeting. Campaigns and events are led and developed by individual volunteers and representatives of member groups who make up working groups.

Revenue

Friends of the Earth Europe receives funding from a variety of government and non-government sources. These include the European Commission under the ‘LIFE+ regulation’, the European Climate Foundation, Oak Foundation, and Isvara Foundation, amongst others. It also gets membership fees from national Friends of the Earth groups.

References

External links

• Official website
• Young Friends of the Earth Europe Website
• Friends of the Earth Europe Youtube Channel
• "Rights for people, Rules for Business" ECCJ's campaign
• Alter-EU website