Evaluation of the European Environment Agency (EEA) and its European Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET) for the period 2017-2021
Date: 2022-04-25
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: EU environmental policy



IMMC.Ares%282022%293209213.ENG.xhtml.PART-2022-292210V1.docx











CALL FOR EVIDENCE 


FOR AN EVALUATION / FITNESS CHECK 






Title of the evaluation




European Environment Agency – 2017-2021 performance evaluation






Lead DG – responsible unit 




DG ENV A3






Indicative timetable 


(planned start date and completion date)




Start date: Q1 2022 – End date: Q2 2023






Additional information




Regulation on the European Environment Agency and the European Environment Information and Observation Network: Regulation (EC) No 401/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009


European Parliament requesting, in its 2005 budget discharge of the Agency, to carry out an evaluation every five years C6-0391/2006 – 2006/2158(DEC)


2012-2016 evaluation of the European Environment Agency: SWD(2018)470







A. Political context, purpose and scope of the evaluation






Political context






The European Environment Agency (EEA) and its European Information and Observation Network (EIONET) were established in 1990. As required under Regulation (EC) No 401/2009, the Agency provides the EU and its member countries with information and technical and scientific support on environmental issues, to enable them to take measures to protect the environment (and assess how successful these are) and to keep the public properly informed. 


The adoption of the European Green Deal has created a new momentum for environmental and climate action, and this has made the Agency’s work even more relevant. In recent years, the role of the Agency has been reinforced under the European Climate Law and the 8th Environmental Action Programme, and will continue to increase with the various initiatives under the Green Deal.


There are various reasons this evaluation is being carried out now:


·the European Parliament, in its discharge of the Agency’s 2005 budget, requested an evaluation “before 1 January 2010 and every five years thereafter”. 


·the ‘Common Approach’ to EU decentralised agencies states that each agency’s founding act should provide for a periodic overall evaluation, to be conducted every 5 years, and that a sunset/revision clause should apply to every other evaluation. 


·Article 34 of the Financial Regulation requires that all activities which entail significant spending (indicatively set at €5 million) must be evaluated.  This evaluation needs to be carried out in compliance with the Better Regulation guidelines. 


The last evaluation, covering the period from 2012 to 2016, was published in 2018 (SWD(2018)471). It is therefore time to start a new evaluation.






Purpose and scope






The aim of the evaluation is to assess the work of the Agency and its Observation Network. 


The findings will be used to assess the relevance of the Agency’s mandate in relation to the new environmental and climate policy demands and, if appropriate, to prepare the ground for a possible revision of the Agency’s founding regulation.


The period covered by the evaluation is 2017 to 2021, overlapping 2 multiannual programmes: the Agency’s Multiannual Work Programme 2014-2020 and the new EEA-EIONET Strategy 2021-30. 


The scope will be broader than just the EU, covering the Agency’s 32 member countries
1
 and 6 cooperating countries
2
. 


In line with the Better Regulation guidelines, the evaluation will focus on 5 main evaluation criteria: 


·Effectiveness – the extent to which the Agency tasks (as defined in the founding regulation and complementary legislation) have been implemented in the work programmes, and to what extent this leads to the intended impacts; the extent to which the Agency took into consideration the outcomes of the previous evaluation.


·Efficiency – the extent to which the Agency’s organisation (governance, structure, allocation of resources, etc.) is fit for purpose, to achieve the results in a cost efficient and timely manner. Areas of potential resource optimisation should be identified.  


·Relevance – the extent to which the Agency’s objectives and mandate are still relevant and aligned with current EU policy priorities. If appropriate, the evaluation will propose the possible reprioritisation of certain tasks.


·Coherence – the extent to which the Agency interacts appropriately with the European Commission, its member and cooperating countries and other EU agencies, avoiding duplication of work and enhancing synergies


·EU added value – the extent to which the EEA/Eionet work adds benefits compared to what would have resulted from action by EU countries alone.  


This evaluation will build on the results of the previous Agency evaluation; it will analyse how the recommendations were taken into account for formulating the new 2021-30 strategy, how EEA/Eionet adapted to the new policy context and the impacts of these changes on the performance of the Agency, including in terms of administrative simplification and burden reduction.







B. Better regulation






Consultation strategy






A targeted consultation will be carried out to collect the views of specific groups of stakeholders, to fill information and knowledge gaps about the Agency’s performance. 


The consultation strategy will be developed during the inception phase of the support study. Based on the previous evaluation, at least the following groups of stakeholders will be targeted: 


·representatives of the Agency’s member and cooperating countries (Management Board and National Focal Points)


·relevant Commission departments and EU Agencies


·relevant Members of the European Parliament


·the EEA itself


·the European Topic Centres 


·representatives of the scientific community and interest groups (environmental/climate NGOs and others). 


Input will be collected through: 


·feedback on this call for evidence


·individual surveys


·interviews with key stakeholders


·workshops addressing broad or specific stakeholder groups. 


No public consultation is planned.






Data collection and methodology






The evaluation will take into account in particular the information below, as well as information and reports available on the Agency website and the Eionet portal:


-the results of the previous evaluation (covering 2012-16).


-the 2014-20 work programme and the EEA/EIONET strategy for 2021-2030


-the programming documents for 2017-19, 2018-20, the single programming documents for 2019-21, 2020-22 and 2021-23 and related Commission Opinions


-the Agency’s annual activity reports for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 (expected publication: June 2022)


-the Agency’s annual accounts for the financial years 2017, 2018 and 2019


-an audit by the Commission’s Internal Audit Service and the European Court of Auditors report on the Agency accounts for 2019


-the European Court of Auditors report on the future of EU agencies


-reports from the Agency’s Bureau and Management Board meetings


The Commission’s work will be supported by a study carried out by an external contractor. This will look at existing information and collect additional knowledge and evidence, including by targeted consultation, to provide further data for assessing the evaluation criteria.










(1)
 The 27 EU member countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey



(2)
 Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia