On 9 July, GLOBE EU President Manuela Ripa hosted a live presentation of UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook 7 (GEO-7), bringing together the report’s authors and policy experts to discuss the state of the global environment and the choices needed to secure a more resilient future.
The discussion highlighted GEO-7’s core message: the world is facing an interconnected environmental crisis driven by unsustainable patterns in energy, food, materials use and waste. Speakers stressed that climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, land degradation and resource depletion cannot be tackled in isolation, and that effective responses require coordinated action across government, business and society.
Patrick Schröder, Debbie Ley, and Peter Alexander presented practical pathways for transformation, including:
- Circular economy and materials: designing out waste, improving material recovery, creating fair markets for circular goods, and scaling reuse, repair and refurbishment.
- Energy transition: ensuring universal access to clean energy, improving efficiency, phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, and promoting responsible sourcing and circularity in critical minerals.
- Food systems: shifting toward healthier and more sustainable diets, reducing food loss and waste, improving production practices, and reforming governance and market structures.
A recurring theme throughout the event was that the cost of inaction is far higher than the investment needed for change. The speakers underscored that environmental protection is not separate from economic prosperity or social well-being: it is a foundation for both. The event concluded with a call for urgent, people-centered, cross-sector action, and for Europe to continue leading by example in the global transition to a more sustainable and resilient future.
