The European Union is ambitiously working towards its climate goals set by the Paris Agreement of 2015 and further conferences under the umbrella of her European Green Deal, which has the goal of making Europe a climate neutral continent by 2050 at the latest point. This is a legally binding target thanks to the European Climate Law. But climate change is a worldwide problem which doesn't stop at the borders of our continent, so Europe can't fix this worldwide problem on her own, even if she can help come a long way. The European Union is the largest market in the world and holds great international power because of this. Furthermore, it has a highly educated and skilled population and already has great experience with development aid all over the world. Under the Global Gateway strategy, the EU is already investing millions into development aid. Climate is also a sector of the Global Gateway, so this could be expanded to reach even more of the world. Therefore, this idea calls upon the European Union to: - Draft more environmentally friendly legislation of which its impact would be felt all around the world thanks to it's dominant position as the world's largest market. - Use more of our skilled labour force and advanced private sector to help out with climate mitigation and climate adaption around the world. - Promote European green industries around the world. - Expand the climate arm of the Global Gateway strategy. - Create and promote a globally useful strategy like the European Green Deal to reach climate goals worldwide. As one of the world's most advanced, largest, richest and active players, the European Union can have a future as the international climate leader. As I believe that the future of Europe is green, and the future of green is Europe.

My idea concerns the need to increase the power of the European Parliament in relation to the executive powers to make faster progress in the management of natural hazards, particularly regarding forest fires. To illustrate my point, scientific experts widely agree that it is crucial to invest in the prevention of such fires, as once they reach the stage of "MegaFires," they become extremely difficult, if not impossible, to extinguish with current technological and human resources. Multidisciplinary scientific research has revealed numerous consequences for human societies. They pose an increased threat to stakeholders, including firefighters, as well as to local populations, with impacts on human lives, properties, businesses, and the economic function of natural ecosystems. The overall social, economic, and environmental costs are significant, although estimates remain limited. They cause substantial damage to collective infrastructure such as power and communication lines, water supply systems, roads, and railways. The costs of cleaning and reconstruction are considerable. They disrupt supply chains, resulting in business closures and transportation disruptions. This can lead to a decrease in tax revenue, a decline in property values, and loss of customers for local businesses, such as reduced tourism in fire-affected areas. These are only a few of the consequences: they also incur in socioeconomic costs, health issues, water quality, impacts in local ecosystems... However, I have noticed that executive powers often tend to allocate resources primarily to civil security forces rather than investing in prevention. This decision is often driven by short-term political considerations, as it is easier for a Ministry of the Interior or the European Commission to deploy resources when a fire breaks out, creating the illusion of immediate and effective action. Unfortunately, this reactive approach neglects the importance of prevention, which would help avoid such emergency situations in the first place. This is where the European Parliament can play a crucial role. As an institution of debates and consensus, the Parliament has the unique ability to exercise closer control over executive powers and promote policies focused on the prevention of natural hazards. By strengthening its position and influence, the European Parliament can encourage the executive powers to invest more in the prevention of forest fires and other natural risks. This also necessitates granting the European Parliament legislative initiative, which it is currently deprived of. Therefore, I encourage to consider this proposal and explore ways to increase the Parliament's power in the management of natural hazards. By working together, we can make Europe a global leader in proactive natural hazard management. I firmly believe that the European Parliament, as a democratic institution representing the interests of European citizens, is the ideal place to initiate this positive change.

Flags of convenience facilitate illegal activities in the ocean, such as IUU fishing, human trafficking, pirating and low tax payments. The current registration processes and lack of history track on flags of convenience are not effective. Therefore, a directive should be drafted and implemented, obliging all European vessels to be registered in a centralized database, in order to keep a tracking history of all the flags registry. However, this database would not have the option of leaving any empty year field (similar to the rules applying to the planes' registration).

Several studies and economists warn that our current economic thinking is unable to find a solution in our terrible situation. The constant will for economic growth destroys the environment (Potsdam Institute for Climate Research, 2022) and sustainable economic growth is also not possible, as several studies show (European Environmental Bureau 2019) - also confirmed by the rebound effect. For a long time, the well-being of the population has been decoupled from economic growth (Australian National University, Kubiszewski et al, 2013) as opposed to the environment. Thus, it would be the task of the EU to be a pioneer of a new type of economic policy with real influence. Comprehensive reforms are needed to achieve this, but this is the only way to counter climate change.

Aquaponics is an innovative agricultural system that combines Aquaculture and soil less cultivation of crops without the need for external chemical inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides, whilst at the same time using less water than current conventional agricultural practices. As much as Europe currently funds and promotes emerging innovative farming technologies, the focus has always been on Hydroponics (which still relies heavily on the use of synthetic fertiliser solutions) and technological gadgets (sensors, robots, etc). This approach has failed to address the core issue of the global crisis our climate and food system faces - sustainable, nature inclusive production of food without further destruction to vital and important ecological systems and biodiversity. A growing (but still very small) amount of young people are beginning to recognise and adopt Aquaponics as an agro-ecological farming system that can enable us feed our growing populations, protect and promote vital ecosystem (insects, microbes) that will enable biodiversity thrive and humanity survive. Sadly, funding (and access to it) and promotion of Aquaponics has been a major stumbling block to realise the full potential of this agricultural system that truly offers us a chance to work with nature to help us find sustainable solutions to our current broken food system. Identifying, providing funding to, and promoting young agricultural entrepreneurs (agripreneurs) adopting and using Aquaponics will go a long way to ensure we finally have a potent solution that can help us correct the wrongs within our food system and most importantly, attract the much needed young people into agriculture and farming.

Create an European vegetable garden cup, a healthy competition to promote the reconnection to food and nature in schools.  This project would enhance youth to an healthy and ecological outdoors activity and create networks among different schools and stakeholders all around Europe 🍓🥬

It should be possible to deposit cartons and bottles for products such as milk and yoghurt for sustainability purposes.

Due to an outdated compromise, most of the MEPs and a lot of European Parliament staff still travel each month from Brussels to Strasbourg, adding avoidable CO2 to an already dying planet. It is unlikely that this environmentally unfriendly practice will change anytime soon due to the veto of France. However, to at least minimize the impact of this practice, the EU must ensure a frequent, fast, and most importantly climate neutral rail link between Brussels and Strasbourg. 

My idea consists on the creation of European environmental and social standards that protect local communities. I bring up the case of Barroso region, in Portugal’s agriculture heritage site, declared by UNESCO which is under present threat of being exploited with a mining project which will affect water quality , displace and reduce drastically the quality of soil and the current sustainable practices which are already an ancestral and winning solution for climate change and sustainable food systems, with the agrosilvopastoral systems. We must beware of the acceleration of the green new deal in Europe, which might be a facade for a substitution of the individual automobile industry from fossil to a short term solution as lithium. We must not, in sake of the “green transition “ create sacrificial zones. Follow Associação Unidos em Defesa de Covas do Barroso.

Chronic patients often don’t have a choice but to use means of transportation that are not environmentally friendly, because right now most likely the choice is between: 1. A slow, expensive and probably not very accessible (in terms of timetables or coverage) means of transportation; 2. And personal car or Uber/Taxi (probably with an internal combustion engine). Chronic patients often don’t have the luxury of being flexible, so being able to move around anytime gives a sense of freedom, like you’re less limited. However, the cost that the earth is paying for this is too high. According to SDG Watch Europe’s report: “Urban congestion costs Member States around €100 billion a year. Buses and trains account for about 17% of urban passenger traffic – and this is decreasing as the use of cars is on the rise. There has not been sufficient investments in sustainable transport systems and the policies needed to support them. Public transport must be more affordable, more efficient, more accessible and inclusive. It needs to cater for the special needs of women, children and young people, persons with disabilities and older people. Cities offering free public transport have seen a significant uptake.”

Some embark on their activism journeys as children, while others begin as adults. Some focus on global issues, while others make a local impact. There is no right or wrong approach—only the willingness to try. And, what there is, is an ongoing climate crisis that, if ignored and done nothing about, will only get worse – especially for us young people, who have done the least to contribute to it but will suffer some of its worse consequences. We do have power, and perseverance does pay off. This is about the primary value of relationships - with friends, with colleagues, and ultimately, with nature. My demand for European policy makers is for them to acknowledge the urgency of the climate crisis, and take the - bold - steps needed to avoid its worse consequences, while also supporting and empowering youth initiatives to be an integral part of the solution

The current Joint European Environmental Education Programme for Secondary Education has a limited character. Schools in the Member States act voluntarily by implementing autonomous environmental programmes. However, in secondary schools there is no specific subject aimed at raising our awareness of environmental issues and it is only up to the teachers’ initiative. In order to address this shortcoming, we propose to establish a common European pilot programme to be followed by all schools in the Member States, guiding and providing ideas and educational tools. Through experiential actions to instil the love to protect the environment. But not theoretical, not unregulated! Under the umbrella of the European Union, to stimulate awareness among European young people! By systematically educating young people, we may save our environment, perhaps we can safeguard our future!

The European Environment Agency (EEA) predicts that the total building stock in the EU is expected to grow by 7% by 2050. Constructing new buildings however contributes significantly to environmental destruction and pollution in the manufacture of new materials. Therefore, it is crucial to leverage and protect our existing building stock at a regional level. How then can we best leverage and protect our existing collective building stock at a regional level? The existing building stock contains an immeasurable amount of embodied carbon, and initiatives are underway to reclaim salvaged materials from construction sites and repurpose them in other projects. While some existing buildings — such as those riddled with asbestos — require removal, demolishing buildings creates a significant amount of waste and can contribute to landfill congestion and the detriment of our environment. By preserving existing buildings, renovating, and retrofitting them, we can reduce waste and promote circular economy principles. To reduce the environmental footprint of new buildings in Europe and discourage the demolition of those already built, I would like to propose the following: 1. Establish an inventory of buildings that are at risk of demolition to identify which buildings should be prioritised for protection, preservation, and/or refurbishment, including perhaps their potential 'second-life' use. 2. Explore financial incentives that property owners or governments could receive to renovate and refurbish their buildings instead of demolishing them, such as tax breaks, grants, and low-interest loans. 3. Allow countries to add the carbon equivalent of the building stock that would have replaced the existing (measured in KgCO2eq) to their NDC targets for 2030 as an incentive (although for some countries this may have a marginal effect). 4. Align on regional building codes and regulations to limit the ease of demolishing buildings and make it an absolute last resort. For example, a panel of experts could review the justification for demolishing buildings above a certain size before granting demolition permits. Increasing the barriers to demolition would have several benefits, including the preservation of cultural heritage, reduced waste and environmental emissions, increased employment opportunities, and advanced industrial readiness for the renovation wave.

Shops, restaurants and businesses should be legally obliged to donate all food to the hungry and poor before the past shelf-life. Throwing food in litter should be forbidden.

When it comes to the electrification of our mobility infrastructure, too much focus has been placed on electric vehicles (EVs) and the required EV charging infrastructure. However, e-bikes and e-scooters are 15 time more energy efficient than EVs (meter*passenger/jules) as the car requires more energy to move unnecessary mass, moreover more than half of all the daily trips are less than 3 miles, thus easily sustituible for e-mobility options. Besides this remarkable advantages, there is little political interest in promoting and developing infrastructure for this efficient means of transport. We need an EU wide common docking and charging stations for light e-mobility vehicles, allowing every e-bike producer to design its e-bikes and scooters comply with EU docking and charging standards in every EU27 member states. This infrastructure will lead to an uptake in e-mobility, allowing private owners to secure and charge their e-bikes in the street, reduce the disarray of renting e-bikes and scooters in the cities by providing a designated docking space as well as reduce e-mobility companies operational costs, thus reducing prices and increasing consumers demand.

To have a successful reuse packaging industry that can competes with single use plastics, you need to leverage on economies of scale by creating an EU wide standard on packages: from beverage to yogurts, coffee cups and meat traits. The standard facilitates interoperability, reduce market fragmentation, increase liquidity in the market and logistics efficiencies, transforming reusables packages into a tradeable commodity in the market by different operators. Creating an entire new industry around recovering logistics and refurbishment of EU reusable packages (package mining)

Encourage people to use more sustainable means of transport while traveling in Europe (Trains).  Europe is not that big, and it is pretty easy to travel in a sustainable way. I wonder why no initiative supports eco-friendly traveling (not only for young but for ALL Europeans), and flights are still a cheaper way to travel. 

It should be regulated by the EU, with a single tariff zone and a common app that integrates all public transportation systems from all member countries.

Supermarkets and DIY stores should be required to build multi-storey buildings to reduce wasted space and land sealing, while creating living space on the upper floors. Since such markets are often surrounded by parking lots, there should also be no problem with shading of surrounding buildings there. As this means additional costs for businesses, this should be subsidised by the EU.

Limiting packaging to a maximum of some percentage larger than its contents would result in a reduction in the amount of plastic waste generated by packaging, and prevent manufacturers from deceiving consumers with misleading packaging.

The ‘SDGs’ allow projects to be launched in relation to the different themes they represent. They enable institutions and citizens to better understand who is being addressed and for what purpose, for example, a law is adopted.

This reflection follows a finding that I have been able to make today: a large part of our impasse is used as a car park. However, these areas are not very busy by cars, except in order to be able to park in front of the door, and they are naturally ‘easy’ to close to the car. Often concrete and poorly maintained our deadlock could become a real beehive of biodiversity. In addition to the environmental aspect of this project, this project would help to rebuild cohesion between neighbours, the gardens would be maintained by the inhabitants, tables and chairs could be installed there, as well as a collective compost. Thanks to the size of the deadlocks, other developments could be added, a marre, fruit trees, shelter for insects and birds, children’s games, a collective outdoor kitchens, and 1001 ideas from the heads of neighbours enthusiasted by the project!

Not only is the use of water way more hygienic and clean than of toilet paper, but it is also way better for the environment. The average person uses 85 rolls of toilet paper per year, this could be significantly less when toilet bidets become more generally accepted within the EU.

A pan-European rail network with a provider of trains across several countries (e.g. Interrail). However, ticket prices must be lower than air tickets in order to make it attractive to the widest mass!

The EU has to face new challenges that break down the traditional policies carried out previously: for instance, policies have prioritized competitiveness over strategic security, which reflects in the strategic chip industry or the reliance on the Russian fossil fuels and gas. The EU’s complete dependence on industries located in Taiwan for complex chips is a result of the previous logic: chips were simply cheaper to import. But today’s reality and geopolitical tensions have revealed this cross-cutting sector on our economy to obtaining and storing energy from renewable resources. Thus, policies which used to focus solely on competitiveness are no longer working, generating a shift in the global paradigm to ensure security and supply of essential resources and products. This is now being translated into an extremely important field with a high impact on the environment: agriculture and livestock farming. At present, the EU does not have clear and robust legislation to enable it to compete on an equal footing with external producers. We must ensure proper internal competitiveness in our economic system, but I believe it is also necessary to ensure adequate and fair competitiveness with external sectors and more in an area like agrifood and the primary sector. The Union will have to face these challenges to strike a balance between competitiveness and supply and the fight against climate change. Incentivizing framing and agriculture in the EU will not only help mitigate environmental impacts, but also improve our health an animal welfare.

Promoting green roofing through EU programmes can help achieve the Union's ambitious and necessary climate goals in a sustainable and biodiverse way by complementing solar panels. Look at large financial centres, residential blocks and even separate housing from at top-down view and you get a clear picture: A lot of potential surface area is left unused. Green roofing offers a (as the name says) green solution to putting all that potential to work. It produces O2 by taking CO2 out of the air, making cities more breathable while at the same time reducing their carbon footprint. Plant life already installed in public places has also shown that greener cities are more resistant to heat and flooding, since greenery absorbs less heat than concrete while on the other hand absorbing more water. Solar panels have proven to be a great use of the earlier mentioned free surface area. Although in order to work effectively (in the Northern hemisphere) these panels would optimally face South and be installed slanted to catch the most amount of sunlight. On top of that rare earth metals needed in solar panel production are mined in non-sustainable ways and make Europe more dependant of its trading partners. These down sides to solar panels are exactly why greenery on our roofs will be a perfect complementary factor: plant life can be put on any and all types of roof with adequate sunlight, and can be planted sustainably by adapting the choice of flora to local ecosystems. Solar panels have been made popular in large part due to subsidising schemes that made their initial high costs manageable for citizens and companies. The same course of action can be followed with green roofs, whose high installation costs (~€120/m2) are its biggest hurdle. More of an emphasis on this innovation in the EU’s Green Infrastructure project will be crucial.

The European Union must design a network (national and transnational) of transport, commercial and passenger, on which rail will be the main player. The advantages of rail are as follows: 1.Environmental friendliness than cars and ships, due to the use of electricity for its propulsion 2. As a track-based instrument it has the advantage of increased capacity. This means that it can carry more goods or passengers than the car while it has the possibility of moving within the hinterland as opposed to the ship. 3.Where it is technologically advanced, it shall also significantly prevail in terms of speed, except aeroplanes (train still gains in payload, though) 4. Still relatively cheap instruments compared to the benefits it provides to both society and the environment. 5. It unites remote settlements with urban centres, stimulates local economies and contributes to the development of tourism. The benefits of rail are numerous and it is difficult to name them together. Importantly, it is a form of transport that is energy green and very efficient and we all need to trust it. How will this be achieved? 1. Creation of standards and state-of-the-art rail networks, equal amounts, in all Member States. 2. Introduction of reduced fares compared to buses and airplanes and a 40% reduction in the ticket price for all travel for students. 3. Cutting red tape in transnational connections (commercial and passenger) . 4. Modernising the existing network, drawing up a new network and joining major European ports.

Crosswalks should not be placed directly on roads - this puts pedestrians at risk of being hit by a car. Also cars have to stop if pedestrian wants to cross the road and again gain the crossing speed. This leads to higher exhaust pollution. If crosswalks would be underground or aboveground, then pedestrians would be much safer, and cars could run higher speed (like 70kmh instead of 50) polluting less CO2 and other toxic substances.

Government subsidies should be given to citizens to encourage using non-motorized vehicles as means of transport: for example, cycling to work.