The EEB aims to promote knowledge and understanding of the current and potential EU environmental and sustainable development policies amongst the general public in the EU, so that this will lead them generally to mobilise for continuous improvement. The EEB must therefore continuously develop and maintain excellent relations with its members, whose own members are made up of the general public, and must provide targeted services in information, co-ordination and representation. The EEB office in Brussels closely coordinates EU-oriented activities with EEB Members at national level around Europe. It also works in ad-hoc coalitions with representatives of other interest groups when appropriate.
 
The EEB has an information and press service, runs 12 specialised Working Groups of EEB members, produces position papers on topics that are, or should be, on the EU agenda and represents the Membership in regular discussions with European institutions.

The EEB has consultative status at the Council of Europe and the United Nations, and has working relations with the Commission of the European Union, the Economic and Social Committee of the European Union, and the OECD.

The EEB believes in coalition building outside the environmental movement. It has good working relationships with, in particular, the European Trade Union Confederation and the Bureau of European Consumers’ Unions.

In the Pan-European region, the EEB has become a leading organisation in campaigning for the implementation of the Aarhus Convention and, more generally, for the “Environment for Europe Process”. The EEB’s Secretary General is a member of the Co-ordination Body of the European Ecoforum and is the Chair of its Public Participation Campaign Committee. Finally, as the EU Co-ordinator of the Transatlantic Environment Dialogue, the EEB is also building closer relationships with environmental organisations in the USA.

The EEB has also become the main partner with a focus on the EU for environmental organisations in Accession Countries. The experience, relationships and the position which the EEB has, are of great value to them in determining their own role in the accession process. More and more are becoming members of the EEB. Since the beginning of the enlargement process, the number of memberships from accession regions has nearly trebled.

The EEB aims to:
have adequate knowledge about the capacities and specific interests of its Members and the roles that they can play in EEB co-ordinated activities;
ensure that it is fully informed about relevant developments in "Brussels";
ensure fast, targeted and reliable provision of information to its members, with the dual objective to both inform and mobilise;
facilitate and promote an ongoing dialogue between the members and existing and potential allies on positions and strategies to influence relevant EU policies;
set up activities that reflect the priorities and demands of its Members with regard to EU policies;
maintain the function of liaison between the EU institutions and the environmental movement.