EaP GREEN

Greening Economies in the Eastern Neighbourhood (EaP GREEN) programme is a large regional programme implemented in 2013-2018 by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), OECD, UNEP, and UNIDO to assist the six European Union’s Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, in their transition to green economy. The programme is financed by the European Commission, the four implementing organisations and other donors.

The programme’s overall objective is to assist the EaP countries to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation and resource depletion. The programme component that ECE is in charge of implementing, aims to promote the use of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Environmental Empact Assessment (EIA) as essential planning tools for an environmentally sustainable economic development.

ECE supports the participating countries in developing and applying SEA legislation and systems in accordance with the provisions of the Protocol on SEA to the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention), and the EU SEA Directive. The related activities are linked to the work plans under the Convention and the Protocol; and they contribute to promoting the ratification and implementation of the Protocol on SEA. As appropriate, assistance is also provided to improve the current practices and legal and institutional frameworks on EIA in compliance with the Espoo Convention, and with the EU EIA Directive.