Enhancing Scientific Knowledge While “Putting Environmental Information to Work”. The Early Steps of the European Environment Agency

This article investigates the roots and early developments of the European Environ-ment Agency, within the context of the EU’s Environmental policy integration, the debate on sustainability, and the beginnings of multilateral climate negotiations. Based on newly declassified records from the Historical Archives of the EU, the essay tries to assess the role of the EEA within the EU’s institutional architecture and the Agency’s identity and legitimation issues at its inception. It also explores some of the challenges related to the collection and monitoring of environmental information in Europe, as well as those regarding the transfer of scientific knowledge to political decision-makers and the public. The article argues that, despite its uncertain start and lack of regulatory, or inspection powers, the EEA became a pathfinder in pan-European environmental networking, enhanced the international sharing of a body of knowledge about ecological threats, and gave momentum to

European commission · Legitimation · Politics · Sociology of scientific knowledge · Sustainability · Academic Research and Education Studies · Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature · Globalization and political ideologies