The recordings of this hybrid event are now available from the LIFE programme Youtube channel.

In 2019 the European Commission launched the European Green Deal, a massive strategy to transform Europe into a more sustainable society. At the end of 2020 the New European Bauhaus was initiated by the European Commission, a movement to accelerate the green transition that is called for by the European Green Deal. The initiative aims ‘to provide all citizens with access to goods that are circular and less carbon-intensive, that support the regeneration of nature and protect biodiversity’. As reflected in its slogan ‘Beautiful, sustainable, together’, the New European Bauhaus is guided by three core values: sustainability, aesthetics and inclusion.

The EU LIFE Programme supports the New European Bauhaus, among others by holding a conference that showcases projects (financed through the LIFE and Horizon 2020 programmes) working on different aspects of the transformation necessary for a carbon-neutral 2050, including:

• technological ideas that embrace principles of circular economy
• projects that preserve ecosystems and promote nature-based solutions
• ideas that bring sustainability principles in building design including the circularity principles into practice, and
• activities that aim at changing behaviour at all levels of society.

The conference was held from 15 to 17 November 2021, in Brussels and online. As part of my role in the NEEMO consortium, on 17 November I moderated a session on Nature-Based Solutions, an approach that is well suited to balance the three components of sustainability: environment, society, and economy. I was also interviewed for the congress radio and took part in the wrap-up session. For details, see the project page.