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Environmental Performance Reviews

Introduction

An Environmental Performance Review (EPR) is an assessment of the progress a country has made in reconciling its environmental and economic targets and in meeting its international environmental commitments. The EPR Programme assists and supports ECE member countries in improving their environmental management and performance; promotes information exchange on policies and experiences among countries; helps in the integration of the environmental policies into economic sectors; promotes greater accountability to the public; strengthens cooperation with the international community; and contributes to the achievement and monitoring of relevant Sustainable Development Goals.

In 2023, the Fourth Cycle of EPRs starts, kicking off a new round of reviews to assist countries’ efforts in improving the environment for the benefit of people and planet. At the Ninth Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference (Nicosia, 5–7 October 2022), in their Declaration, the Ministers commended the ECE EPR Programme as an effective and practical policy tool with a proven track record stretching back over more than a quarter of a century, and recognized the role it plays in supporting the achievement and monitoring of SDGs in the pan-European region.

The Fourth Cycle of EPRs was adopted by the ECE Committee on Environmental Policy in November 2020 and launched in Nicosia where ministers at the Conference endorsed the fourth cycle (ENG, FRE, RUS) and invited ECE to conduct it and encouraged countries to undertake further reviews and to considering elaborating road maps to implement recommendations. The Governments of Tajikistan, Montenegro and the Republic of Moldova have requested ECE to undertake a fourth review of the environmental performance of their countries.