Since 2000, 440 million children have been immunised against preventable diseases – and an estimated 6 million deaths have been avoided. But 22.6 million children are still not vaccinated and 1.5 million children under-5-years-old die annually from preventable diseases. Changing this picture may require action, not least on vaccine prices.
Europe’s new overseas aid policy, the Agenda for Change, calls for giving the world’s most fragile nations more help through what Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs calls “more strategic, targeted and results-oriented” assistance. But some anti-poverty campaigners say there is a risk that the agenda could end up neglecting impoverished people in emerging and middle-income nations.
The Rio Earth Summit in May 2012 will try to set a global vision on greening the economy, with France leading European calls to establish a brand new World Environmental Organisation (WEO).
Led by cities, EU regions are playing a frontline role in the fight against climate change as they make key investment decisions regarding the new generation of clean energy and transport projects.
Debate on how to cut carbon dioxide emissions has been hotting up in Europe, in part due to the international community's failure to ink a successor deal to the Kyoto Protocol at the UNFCCC conferences in Copenhagen and Durban. But what are the options - and obstacles to a new pact?
From 7-18 December, governments from 192 countries meeting in Copenhagen will attempt to thrash out a sweeping agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, amid growing signals from scientists that global warming is occurring more quickly than expected.
Governments and academics are deeply divided over the economic costs and benefits of combating climate change and moving towards a low-carbon economy. The Stern Review, an influential enquiry into the issue, concluded in 2006 that fighting global warming would cost 1% of global GDP, while non-action could lead to a 20% loss of GDP in the long term. In comparison, research published in January 2009 shows that avoiding dangerous climate change could cost as little as 0.5% of global GDP.
The debate on the EU's future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is taking place in the aftermath of spectacular world food price increases in 2007-2008 and amid bankruptcy warnings from EU farmers, who are worried about attempts to liberalise global trade in agricultural products.
Buildings have an enormous role to play in the EU's attempts to slash greenhouse gas emissions, as they represent around 40% of all energy use. The EU addressed the problem by introducing minimum requirements for the energy performance of buildings, but having acknowledged that more needs to be done, it is now in the course of revising the legislation.
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso spent the summer preparing his programme for the next five years after his bid to secure a second term was put on ice by the European Parliament's political group leaders in July - EURACTIV asked key stakeholders to assess the Barroso Commission's achievements and failures.
Sweden assumes the EU's six-month rotating presidency from the Czech Republic on 1 July as Europe battles its most severe economic recession in decades and faces an uncertain institutional future. If the Lisbon Treaty enters into force before the end of the year, this could be history's last fully-fledged EU presidency.
As the world's population approaches ten billion, issues like climate change, growing scarcity of oil and availability of quality land and water are challenging the planet's capacity to produce enough food for everyone - a paradigm shift that could potentially pave the way for a new global 'food crunch'.
Home to 80% of EU citizens and 70% of greenhouse gas emissions, urban areas play a key role in fighting climate change; but cities' access to funding for green policies is proving a major stumbling block.
Political objectives to reduce CO2 emissions and transform the energy system are set to shape the EU's industrial and economic development in the coming decades, but the 'third industrial revolution' has been challenged by a financing squeeze as the world grapples with the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Following the agreement on a roadmap to negotiate a succesor to the Kyoto Protocol at the UN conference in Bali, EURACTIV examines some of the main policy options and instruments available for mounting a global response to climate change.
The climate change imperative has put the spotlight on Europe's cities, which are home to 80% of Europeans and consume a disproportionate share of natural resources relative to their surface area.
As water shortages in developing countries become more acute due to climate change, the EU is backing policies to manage the demands of all sectors, prioritising health, sanitation and cooperation between states.
The EU has implemented a range of policies to combat climate change and deliver on its Kyoto target of 8% CO2 reductions by 2012. As the negotiations for a new climate treaty continue, the EU is now implementing a set of new policies to reach its 2020 goals.
HIV/AIDS is still prevalent, not only in developing countries but also in Europe. The number of reported HIV cases in EU member states has doubled since 1998 and half of the new cases affect people aged 15-25. A number of EU initiatives aim to increase understanding and awareness of HIV/AIDS issues and bring relief to the third world.
With a green paper published in June 2007, the European Commission has started a public consultation on policy measures needed to lessen the impacts and costs of increasing climate change-related calamities such as floods and forest fires.
In an effort to tackle aviation's small but fast-growing contribution to climate change, the EU has decided to impose a cap on CO2 emissions for all planes arriving at or departing from EU airports. Airlines would then be allowed to buy and sell 'pollution credits' on the EU 'carbon market' (Emissions Trading Scheme).
EURACTIV examines the different ways in which energy efficiency improvements are funded in Europe, whereby EU funds are only a small part of a large equation that includes market-based instruments, bank financing and private sector initiatives.
Sport has become a global language and is internationally recognised as a way of reducing poverty and boosting development. The Commission has joined forces with FIFA to promote football as a factor for development in the ACP countries and the White Paper on Sport announces a more general use of sport as a tool in the EU development policy.
The scientific consensus that humans are responsible for global warming is now compelling with over 90% probability, according to the latest conclusions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a UN-backed scientific body. But uncertainties remain surrounding the extent of future temperature rises and the effects they will have on the earth’s complex ecosystem.
