This piece was first published on the IEEP website.

To celebrate 50 years of the IEEP family, throughout 2026 we will retrace the organisation’s long history, highlight key moments in EU policymaking, and showcase our influence and impact on some of the most critical events, with the support of current and past friends, colleagues, and supporters. IEEP has also gathered messages, reflections and videos from colleagues, friends, allies and supporters of IEEP. In this video, former IEEP Executive Director and currently Senior Fellow, David Baldock, reflects on his journey since first joining in the 1980s, sharing the challenges and opportunities he encountered in environmental policymaking over the decades, as well as the ongoing efforts to push sustainable agriculture higher on the agenda.

David Baldock joined IEEP in the early 1980s from Earth Resources Research to start the Institute’s agriculture programme. He was responsible for pioneering projects on the environmental impact of agricultural policy in Europe and the changes required to address them, laying the foundations for IEEP’s strong reputation in this field. He built up IEEP’s agriculture team and EU networks, leading the work on the CAP in Brussels (but visiting innumerable farms along the way).

As well as being an authority on European agricultural policy and the environment, David’s specialist areas include EU strategies for climate, natural resources, and public investment. He has an active interest in sustainable development and the growing implications of building a bio-economy.

Becoming Director of IEEP in 1998, he continued to work on agricultural policy and does so still as a Senior Fellow, while declaring the current CAP reform is his last.

“Motivation, reward, stimulation, and development of people is a very important part of the IEEP story, and we have many friends and colleagues who pass through IEEP and then other institutions today who are still part of our family.”

Watch David’s video message below: