Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) is an independent, not for profit policy studies institute, a green think tank and a leading centre for the analysis and development of environmental policy in Europe and beyond. It has a strong reputation among national and European policy-makers and non-governmental organisations. The Institute has offices in London and Brussels and a network of partners in other countries, which are particularly strong in the 27 Member States of the EU. These include universities, environmental and professional associations in a range of sectors, research institutes and consultancies. IEEP brings a non-partisan analytical perspective to policy questions, engaging in both pressing short-term questions and long-term strategic studies.
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IEEP was originally established in Bonn in 1976 by the European Cultural Foundation (ECF). Its first director was Konrad von Moltke who believed that an institute in Bonn, whatever it was called, would be seen as a German institute, and that to be truly European it was necessary to have a presence in several European countries. So he opened an IEEP office in Paris in 1978 and in London in 1980. Konrad established a monthly bulletin initially in French and then also in English called ‘The Environment in Europe’. This continued for about ten years and was sent to MPs and MEPs, Committees of parliaments that were beginning to take an interest in this new subject of environmental policy, as well as to ministries.
The London office was initially run as a joint venture with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) that had been founded by Barbara Ward. The IEEP ‘office’ consisted of a desk at their premises at Percy Street, then occupied by twenty or so people, including the fledgling Earthscan. IEEP London’s first director was Nigel Haigh who stayed until 1998. Four projects were planned in the first six months, one of which had to be postponed and modified. They are worth describing as they point to the future.
They were:
- a comparison of public enquiries in Britain and France
- a study of the effects of the Common Agricultural Policy on wetland drainage in France, Britain, Netherlands and Ireland
- a critique of a European freight forecasting study, and
- an extended essay on the impact of EEC environmental legislation in the UK
Over time structural and financial problems appeared. The head office was in Bonn; the accounts were kept by ECF in Amsterdam in florins but were often so late that they provided little basis for financial management; there were staff in four countries on the payroll of different organisations. The IEEP Board responded by initiating two debates between staff and Board, one about the purpose of IEEP, and the other about its structure. The current director David Baldock took over the running of the London office in 1998. The Brussels office was opened in 2001 as the importance of being close to the EU power structures was realised.
IEEP conducts research and analysis providing consultancy and information services, undertaking work both independently and on commissioned projects. IEEP’s work focuses primarily on EU environmental and sustainable development policies, and relevant aspects of other policies such as agriculture, transport, rural and regional development, climate change, industrial pollution and fisheries. The Institute is also actively engaged in the development of policy at the national level in Europe. IEEP seeks both to raise awareness of the policies that shape the European environmental agenda and to advance policy-making along sustainable paths. IEEP can boast strong expertise across the breadth of EU environmental policy and associated issues with teams specialising in nature conservation, agriculture and rural development policy, fisheries and marine environment, transport, climate change and energy, industrial pollution and waste, sustainable development, impact assessment, environmental integration and governance. IEEP staff come from a broad variety of disciplines including biologists, ecologists, environmental scientists, lawyers, economists and journalists.
IEEP’s clients and audience include the European Commission, European Parliament, national and local governments, non-government organisations (NGOs), industry and others who contribute to the policy debate. It has regular contacts with the full range of policy actors. IEEP has established a reputation among national and European policy-makers and NGOs, both for its expertise on environment and related policies in Europe and for the independence and integrity of its work.
Manual of Environmental Policy: the EU and Britain [1] This is a comprehensive online manual produced by IEEP and published by Earthscan, which is updated twice per year to include all EU environmental policy developments.