The 4^th Summit of Heads of State and Government, held in Reykjavík on 16-17 May 2023, adopted the Reykjavík Declaration including the Appendix V on "The Council of Europe and the environment", and underlined “the urgency of additional efforts to protect the environment, as well as to counter the impact of the triple planetary crisis of pollution, climate change and loss of biodiversity on human rights, democracy and the rule of law”, while committing the Council of Europe to strengthening its work “on the human rights aspects of the environment and initiate the Reykjavík process of focusing and strengthening the work of the Council of Europe in this field”.

The Reykjavík process gathered steam in 2023 throughout the organisation, culminating in the creation of a Department on the Reykjavík process and the Environment in the Directorate General on Human Rights and Rule of Law on 1 January 2024, as well as an Inter-Secretariat Task Force on the Environment which will develop a Strategy and an Action Plan on the Council of Europe and the Environment, in liaison with member States.

The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), in the framework of its unique social mandate, co-finances social investment projects in its member countries. The Bank systematically applies the vulnerability lens to its lending activities to enhance their social cohesion value.

The Strategic Framework 2023-2027 identifies three cross-cutting themes that interact with the CEB’s core sectors of activity and are instrumental to achieving progress on social cohesion: (i) Climate action; (ii) Gender equality and (iii) Digitalisation.

Equal access to public services remains a challenge in many CEB Member States, with negative consequences for health, safety, environmental protection, social inclusion, and the capacity to face crises. Many Europeans still lack access to water and sanitation and this increases their vulnerability.

The Bank will continue investing in energy efficiency and modern connected infrastructure facilities, such as access to adequate and affordable water supply and wastewater systems and facilities, and solid waste treatment facilities.