The Bridge, context and description of our work

Our work

Europe, including Belgium, has an enormous responsibility in the struggle against climate change and the degradation of our environment, being the second largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases. The EU, more specifically, is a key player in achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement thanks to the Green Deal, in particular because of its economic power and its position in a rapidly changing geopolitical context.

However, polluting companies are also fully aware of this fact and Brussels is full of lobbyists (the world's second lobbying capital after Washington DC) who act to weaken or delay necessary action. Consequently, our work to raise awareness and make decision-makers accountable for their commitments is all the more crucial to counterbalance the power of these lobbies.

As climate change and environmental degradation are existential threats to Europe and the rest of the world, they should be considered absolute emergencies and taken into account in every political file. We want to ensure that this is the case in the political proposals that will be presented and voted on during the legislature which begins.

Furthermore, in the current geopolitical context (Ukraine, Gaza, strategic independence, etc.), it is not only important to maintain the ambitions and objectives of the Green Deal, but also to plead for an increase in these ambitions.

In order to guarantee them, our main objective is to mobilize young people and draw public attention to the ongoing exceeding of planetary limits, with a focus on the climate emergency. The Bridge aims to pursue this goal by organizing young European citizens around campaigns demanding more ambitious climate and environmental policies from European institutions (mainly the Commission and Parliament) and holding them to account when they fail to do so. Making European institutions more readable and accessible to young citizens is an important task, but above all a key element in being able to mobilize quickly and constantly adapt to new subjects and modes of action.

This objective contributes to the implementation of an ecological transition in a democratic manner. The success of our actions demonstrates the effectiveness of citizen action in influencing public policies.

In recent years, The Bridge team has focused the mobilization of young people on more specific campaigns, such as the law on restoration of nature, a European policy little liked by our political leaders, more inclined to take a break from European environmental standards (source) when citizen pressure became less pressing. In just a few days, we mobilized hundreds of young people across Europe.

The use of manifestations (action), videos on social networks which reached half a million people (awareness), carte blanche (public opinion) and a petition which collected more thana million signatures (mass mobilization) in collaboration with NGOs working on the subject, as well as the pressure exerted on Instagram and X towards our European representatives, made it possible to create a significant counter-power in favor of the law on the restoration of Nature in Europe.

The voice of young people was heard through meetings with parliamentarians in Brussels and Strasbourg, as well as advocacy and media actions, such as when we brought Greta Thunberg to Strasbourg in the days before the law was voted on. While the majority of parliamentarians did not see the point of voting in favor of this law, in plenary session, with our presence in the stands, the majority voted for it. It's this kind of success which motivates young people and makes them want to participate to European democracy.

We create more than campaigns, we create motivation of which young Europeans need to feel empowered engaged citizens.

The actions of The Bridge are multiple and would require long pages to describe them. We worked on actions against exploitation of the seabed, the common agricultural policy (PAC), shark fishing for the shark market, on the end of fossil fuels, etc.

Unfortunately, the European decision-making process often remains too opaque or inaccessible to young people, even if they are already activists in their own country. However, we have observed that mobilizing young people on crucial issues can tip the scales because we are particularly well placed to put pressure on decision-makers, mobilize the media and a large audience on social networks.

It is to reproduce these victories that with this project, we want to create groups of activists who have the skills and capacity to analyze the European decision-making process on essential issues, to identify key topics and to create impactful campaigns which will then be led by young citizens. This will be done through skill-building workshops where we will share our knowledge of movement building and campaign organizing in order to increase impact and dedicate more time to developing new and relevant campaigns.

Context

Europe (including Belgium), as the second largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases, has an enormous responsibility in the fight against climate change and the degradation of our environment. More specifically, the European Union is a key player, in particular because of its economic power and its position in a changing geopolitical context, to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement thanks to its Green Deal.

However, polluting companies are fully aware of this fact. Brussels is full of lobbyists (the world's second lobbying capital after Washington DC) who act to weaken or delay necessary action. We therefore work to raise awareness and make decision-makers accountable for their commitments., crucial work to counterbalance the power of these lobbies.

Our History

The 2019 climate strike movement, where young people took to the streets for 20 consecutive weeks, was initiated by Youth For Climate under the leadership of Anuna De Wever and Adélaïde Charlier, joined by Lucie Morauw (Adélaïde and Lucie being 2 of the 4 co-founders of The Bridge). This large-scale citizen mobilization has put climate issues at the center of political debates at European level and in several Member States. In particular, it enabled the signing of the Green Deal (source + source).

Adelaide subsequently served as advisor to Frans Timmermans, in charge of the Green Deal, in order to facilitate dialogue with young people. .

Goals

As climate change and environmental degradation are existential threats to Europe and the rest of the world, they should be considered absolute emergencies and be taken into account in each political file.

Furthermore, in the current geopolitical context (Ukraine, Gaza, strategic independence, etc.), it is not only important to maintain the ambitions and objectives of the Green Deal, but also to plead for a increase in these ambitions.

Unfortunately, while mobilizing young people on crucial issues can tip the scales, the European decision-making process often remains too opaque or inaccessible to them, even if they are already activists in their own country. It is therefore essential to make European institutions more readable and accessible to young citizens. It is indeed a key element in being able to mobilize quickly and constantly adapt to new subjects and modes of action. This contributes to the implementation of an ecological transition in a democratic manner.

Missions

The Bridge mobilizes young people and draws public attention to the ongoing exceeding of planetary limits, with a focus on the climate emergency. We let's organize young European citizens around campaigns demanding more ambitious climate and environmental policies from European institutions (mainly the Commission and Parliament), and holding them to account when they fail to deliver.

We want to create groups of activists who have the skills and capacity to analyze the European decision-making process on essential issues, identify key topics and create impactful campaigns which will then be led by young citizens. This is done through skill-building workshops where we share our expertise in movement building and campaign organizing to increase impact and dedicate more time to developing new and relevant campaigns.

Means of action

In recent years, The Bridge team has focused on mobilizing young people on specific campaigns, such as exploitation of the seabed, the common agricultural policy (PAC), shark fishing for the shark market, the end of fossil fuels, etc. One of our main campaigns was the law on restoration of nature.

In just a few days, we mobilized hundreds of young people across Europe. We were able to create a significant counter-power in favor of this law thanks to different means:

• demonstrations (action), notably with the arrival of Greta Thunberg in Strasbourg the days preceding the vote on the law;
• videos on social networks having reached nearly half a million people (awareness);
• carte blanche (public opinion);
• petition having collected more thana million signatures (mass mobilization) in collaboration with NGOs working on the subject;
• pressure exerted on Instagram and X towards our European representatives;
• meetings with parliamentarians in Brussels and Strasbourg.

While the majority of parliamentarians did not see the point of voting in favor of this law, in plenary session, with our presence in the stands, the majority voted for it.
It's this kind of success which motivates young people and makes them want to participate to European democracy.

We create more than campaigns, we create the motivational boost that young Europeans need to feel empowered. engaged citizens.