Integrating the environment and climate change into EU international cooperation and development : towards sustainable development : the guidelines at a glance

Guidelines No 6, 'Integrating the environment and climate change into EU international cooperation and development: towards sustainable development', provide staff in the European Commission, delegations and partner institutions with practical guidance and tools on how to integrate - or mainstream - environmental and climate change considerations into the different phases of the EU programme and project cycle, thereby strengthening the contribution of EU international cooperation and development policy to sustainable development. This brochure provides a brief summary of the guidelines. It is part of a toolbox - accessible on Capacity4Dev - which includes the guidelines, a number of annexes providing detailed guidance and templates of terms of reference, sector notes and climate change sector scripts. The EC defines mainstreaming as 'the process of systematically integrating a selected value/theme/idea into all domains of development cooperation'. Mainstreaming environment and climate change (adaptation and/or mitigation) in EU development cooperation entails: enhancing collaboration between the EU and its partners to integrate environment and climate change across all areas of cooperation to enhance opportunities for sustainable development and mitigate potentially harmful effects; finding entry points to trigger and catalyse change - at the political, institutional and technical levels - building awareness of the benefits of integrating environment and climate change and supporting the transition towards a low-carbon green economy; supporting policies, plans and implementation processes by fostering leadership, institutional capacity and efforts by partner countries (government and civil society) to integrate environment and climate change considerations into development. Mainstreaming requires changes in both ideas and practices.