The EU4Environment action of the European Union aims to help the six Eastern Partner countries preserve their natural capital and increase people’s environmental well-being, by supporting environment-related action, demonstrating and unlocking opportunities for greener growth, and setting mechanisms to better manage environmental risks and impacts.

The EU4Environment takes into account the enhanced cooperation endorsed as part of “20 Deliverables for 2020” at the Eastern Partnership Summit in November 2017.
The Action is implemented by five international organisations: OECD, UN Environment, UNECE, UNIDO, and the World Bank.

Actions are clustered around five priority results:

Greener decision-making:
- Support to inter-ministerial policy dialogue platforms on green growth and to the integration of green economy targets and other sustainability issues into planning.
- Assistance with investment needs assessments.
- Support to reform of legislative frameworks of and building implementation capacities for, strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and transboundary environmental impact assessment (EIA) that fully comply with international requirements.
Implemented by: UNECE, UN Environment, and UNIDO (co-ordinator).

Circular economy and new growth opportunities:
- Assistance to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises(SMEs) to integrate sustainability factors in strategic and daily decision-making.
- Promotion of EU concepts and tools related to the Single Market for Green Products.
- Support for the elaboration and implementation of green public procurement policies.
- Tailored assistance to address waste management challenges.
- Technical assistance for reforms in priority green economy sectors(e.g. energy efficiency, agriculture/food, construction, sustainable tourism or regional development).
- Assistance to ecological value-chain and product innovation among SMEs.
Implemented by: UN Environment and UNIDO (co-ordinator).

An environmental level playing field:
- Support to national authorities in establishing ‘smart’ regulations and policy instruments for promoting environmental performance of large enterprises and SMEs.
- Strengthening the effectiveness of compliance promotion and enforcement institutions and instruments to enhance compliance with environmental requirements.
- Assisting national authorities in designing and costing green public investment strategies and programmes.
- Supporting administrative capacity in environmental management.
- Training of a critical mass of key targeted civil servants and other stakeholders.
Implemented by OECD.

Ecosystem services and livelihoods:
- Launching a shared network of protected areas involving EU and neighbouring countries.
- Support for community actions for forest conservation and sustainable use to increase non-timber goods production, energy efficiency related to biomass.
- Actions to limit the trade in illegal timber.
- Support for the identification and development of innovative financing schemes for sustainable management of ecosystem services.
Implemented by the World Bank.

Knowledge sharing and coordination:
- Strategic communication activities to raise visibility of actions.
- Regional coordination of different elements of the initiative.
- Monitoring of progress with integration of economic and environmental goals, and development of reports based on Green Growth Indicators.
Implemented by OECD in co-operation with all Partners.

By bringing together environmental and economic actors, the "EU4Environment" initiative helps to deliver policy and legislative changes, making planning and investment greener, stimulating the uptake of innovative technologies, adopting new business models, and creating green jobs. It also promotes better environmental governance, improved management of protected areas and forests, and sustainable trade.