All speakers including Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries and, special guest Ruslan Strilets, Ukrainian Minister for the Environment, agreed that it’s paramount to stay on the green track, even more so at this very moment. Going circular means cutting dependencies, and addressing the grave environmental degradation caused by the war calls for a green reconstruction to ensure less pollution, better health and a future proofing of the economy by restoring severely degraded biodiversity. 

The three thematic panels demonstrated that Europe remains firmly on the green path and explained why the European Green Deal is today as relevant as ever. The Brussels conference finished with an uplifting and forward-looking panel where circular business innovators, forward-thinking economists and nature conservation entrepreneurs enthusiastically shared their positive experience of “making the Green Deal real”. Because it is not policies and regulations that make Europe green, it is every single one of us.

Throughout the week, almost 300 events organised by partner organisations took place around Europe and beyond, including flashmobs, clean-up actions including plogging (litter picking whilst jogging), guided tours, educational walks in nature, workshops for kids and hackathons. Through original and concrete action on the ground, people of all ages and from dozens of countries have shown how important implementing the European Green Deal is to them.