How Pew Works in Europe

Experts draw on robust data and analysis to encourage responsive government, support scientific research, and advocate for evidence-based action

A school of bogue, commonly known as “boops boops,” swim above a seagrass meadow of the coast of the Canary Islands, Spain. Pew works in Europe to protect ecosystems and strengthen global conservation.

The Pew Charitable Trusts’ mission is to improve public policy, inform the public and invigorate civic life. In Europe, that means working transparently with national and EU institutions on a wide range of global conservation issues primarily related to the marine environment’s protection and sustainable use.

From our offices in Brussels and London, established in 2008 and 2010, respectively, our experts collaborate with EU member states, the European Commission, European Parliament, UK government officials, scientists and stakeholders to identify pressing challenges facing Europe and the world – and to advance data-driven change.

Key initiatives

Preventing plastic pollution

Pew’s preventing plastic pollution campaign works to reduce the flow of plastic into the environment by advancing science-based solutions across the full plastics life cycle - from production and design to waste management and reuse. In Europe, the campaign focuses on supporting ambitious EU measures – including efforts to reduce microplastic pollution from tyres, textiles and plastic pellets – and strengthening corporate transparency through a partnership with CDP, a global non-profit that runs the world’s environmental disclosure system.

International fisheries

Pew’s international fisheries work aims to protect global marine biodiversity and provide food and livelihoods for the world’s fast-growing population by addressing one of the main threats to ocean health – inadequate management and control of large-scale fishing. Through engagement with governments, regional fisheries management organisations and other international bodies, the project promotes precautionary, science-based management, biodiversity and ecosystem protections, and stronger collaboration and oversight to end illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. In Europe, this involves working closely with the UK, the EU and key fishing nations, recognizing Europe’s role in shaping global fisheries governance.

Ocean governance

Pew’s ocean governance project focuses on strengthening international rules and cooperation to protect the ocean from pressures associated with human activity, including deep-sea mining and harmful fisheries subsides that promote overfishing. The campaign works with governments and multilateral institutions to advance global agreements and policy mechanisms – such as implementing and strengthening the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, advancing implementation of the UN high seas treaty and supporting efforts to meet biodiversity protection targets. The EU and the UK play central roles in this work, acting as a key partner in multilateral negotiations and as a driver of internationally influential environmental legislation.

Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy

Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy, a partnership between Pew and Dona Bertarelli, works with governments, communities, Indigenous groups and scientists to establish large-scale, strongly protected marine protected areas (MPAs) and the connections among them that migratory marine life depends on. In Europe, much of this work runs through France and the UK, as their overseas territories hold some of the world's largest marine reserves: French Polynesia; New Caledonia; the French Southern and Antarctic Lands; the UK's "Blue Belt," which includes the Pitcairn Islands, Ascension Island, Tristan da Cunha and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. In the Southern Ocean, Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy works with the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources – of which the UK, EU and several European states are members – to advance large-scale MPAs around Antarctica. And in the Mediterranean, Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy supports collaborative efforts to build a connected network of highly and fully protected MPAs and work to enhance fisheries measures within the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean.

Blue Nature Alliance

The Blue Nature Alliance is a global partnership led by major conservation and philanthropic organisations, including Pew, that works with governments, local partners, and funders in Europe and around the world to catalyse effective, equitable, large-scale protections of critical ocean ecosystems for the benefit of nature and people, accelerating momentum towards the global goal of protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030.