BRUSSELS, 16 September 2026 – Reacting to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the European Union address, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) calls for Europe to take action to face the globe’s most significant security challenges posed by growing climate, environmental and pollution risks.

Patrick ten Brink, Secretary General of the European Environmental Bureau, said:

“Europe has lived through what President von der Leyen called a ‘summer of truth’. After another summer of heat, drought and devastating fires, the question now is what we do with that truth.

Climate resilience cannot be one chapter of Europe’s strategy while other policies continue to deepen the risks we face. We need to prepare for the impacts already upon us, but our best insurance is to prevent as much climate damage as we still can – including by protecting and restoring the nature that protects us.

The President recognised one of the clearest answers herself: breaking free from imported fossil fuels and electrifying Europe. Europe should now double down on homegrown renewables and make this fossil fuel crisis its last. We need a clear-eyed assessment of what continued fossil fuel dependence costs us – and a plan to leave that vulnerability behind.”

On artificial intelligence, Patrizia Heidegger, Deputy Secretary General of the EEB, said:

“President von der Leyen is right that Europe is facing a battle of narratives. Democracy depends on our ability to have nuanced, fact-based debate, grounded in independent science and access to reliable information – including about the state of our environment.

That challenge becomes even more important in the age of AI. If Europe wants AI with human agency, it must ensure technology strengthens rather than undermines our ability to distinguish fact from fiction and make informed democratic choices.

And AI itself has very real environmental consequences. Europe’s race for computing power will require energy, water, land and infrastructure. Building it in a ‘clean and efficient way’ must mean respecting environmental limits, proper impact assessments, permitting safeguards and access to justice. Europe should lead on AI – but it should also lead on making AI genuinely sustainable, transparent and democratic.”

On competitiveness, Faustine Bas-Defossez, Policy Director at the EEB, said:

“While President von der Leyen talks about a ‘summer of truth’, today’s speech offered a contradictory response: treating some of the symptoms of our environmental crisis while weakening the protections needed to tackle its causes.

Nature and pollution were conspicuously absent from today’s State of the Union. The ambition to stay the course on our climate targets cannot sit alongside a competitiveness agenda that treats environmental protections as obstacles to be removed.

Europe cannot build competitiveness, security or prosperity on collapsing ecosystems and escalating climate disruption. Tackling the triple environmental crisis is not just another priority – it is fundamental to Europe’s ability to tackle the rest of its challenges. The human and economic toll of this summer was a stark reminder of that.

You can simplify paperwork. You cannot simplify away a drought or a flood.”

ENDS

The EEB’s experts are available for further reaction and interviews on specific elements of the State of the Union, including climate and energy, nature, water, circular economy, industrial policy, pollution and environmental governance, and more.

NOTES

More than 200 European and international organisations, industry associations and national organisations are calling on Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to make this fossil fuel crisis Europe’s last.