Campaign Highlights Resource Justice & Sustainability
In 2023, we made powerful progress on tackling resource overconsumption: as civil society we became more organised; the Belgian incoming EU Presidency made it a priority to call for a new EU framework on sustainable resource management; the EU Critical Raw Materials Act mentions the need to “moderate demand”; we gained popular public attention around Earth Overshoot Day.
A clear highlight was the European Parliament Beyond Growth Conference, of which we were an organising partner. We grew our partnerships for a sustainable economy, including with trade union confederations, feminist groups, anti-racism groups, anti-poverty groups, academic circles and environmental and social NGOs. We were repeatedly asked to organise follow-up meetings, which shows the leading role we are playing in this field.
Growing support for resource reduction
We advocated for an ambitious EU Critical Raw Materials Act to include commitments on Indigenous People’s Right to Say No, however it did not make it to the final regulation. The same is said for mining in Natura2000 and other protected areas – mining will continue and maybe even in cases be fast-tracked. We do however see that many more civil society groups are starting to engage on the topics of resource use reduction and mining. The EU NGO Raw Materials Coalition now has more than 50 members, with lively debates and actions towards policy makers, for instance at the EU Raw Materials Week.
“…the logic of endless extraction and economic growth needs to be resisted, including among clean energy companies who portray themselves as champions of climate action.”
Beyond Growth taking over the European Parliament
Through an open letter signed by over 150 organisations and 250 experts, translated into 22 languages and published in 30+ news outlets, we contributed significantly to the visibility of and the mobilisation around the Beyond Growth conference in the European Parliament. The letter received a reply from Commissioners Timmermans and Dombrovskis. On the playful side, a fictional “newspaper from the future” helped conference participants, among whom many policy makers, envision what a post-growth Europe could look like.
“We, the undersigned academics and civil society organisations, see the geopolitical crisis as an opportunity to disengage from the socially and ecologically harmful growth competition and instead embrace a wellbeing cooperation.”