Following two online workshops and a panel at the UACES Annual Conference in September 2021, this new event of the UACES Research Network « The Role of Europe in Global Challenges: Climate Change and Sustainable Development » will adopt a hybrid format with participants at ESSCA, Angers and online.

Several publications have already emerged from this network, and further publications in the form of special issues or edited volumes are planned for the new contributions.
For this conference, we are looking for contributions from scholars and practitioners in the field of sustainable development research, encompassing all its dimensions – economic, and social and environmental sustainability. The objective is to analyse the dynamic of European integration in the fields of sustainability policy and action. Questions will be posed about the extent to which a ‘narrowing’ in the definition of the concept of sustainability has taken place, as seen through the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals and in the response of the European Union and European nations in particular. The European Union is portrayed as a global actor in the development of Sustainability Policy. A key question to be addressed is to what extent international perceptions meet realities ‘at home’ and the extent to which a European model of sustainability has emerged.

This conference will look particularly at the impact of sustainability policies on the European integration process as well as the EU as an environmental leader in the world.