The structure and agendas of European research are undergoing a sea change. One example of this shift is the next multi-annual framework for research and innovation in Europe, Horizon 2020, which has proposed structuring research funding into interdisciplinary blocks defined in terms of “societal challenges.” A new role for the Social Sciences and Humanities is being envisaged within this forthcoming (eighth) framework, emphasizing greater prominence and integration of work from these areas in the overall organization of European research. Directly preceding the VIII NIES symposium in Pori, the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU has dedicated an entire conference, “Horizons for Social Sciences and Humanities,” to the goals of eliciting consultations from stakeholders within the European research community and advising the responsible European agencies on the shaping of Social Sciences and Humanities agendas in “Horizon 2020.” The main outcome of the meeting will be the “Vilnius Declaration on Horizons for Social Sciences and Humanities,” to presented by the EU Lithuanian Presidency to the European Commission before the framework undergoes final refinements leading up the program’s launch in 2014. A number of research interests and focuses are likely to be woven into the fabric of this declaration, and among these the emerging interdisciplinary area of the Environmental Humanities can and should be a significant component. To this end an alliance of strong European research centers and networks has been formed to identify and articulate the strategic challenges, goals and wider relevance of an emerging Environmental Humanities research community in Europe. Nordic researchers from a wide range of disciplines and study areas within the Humanities are playing a key role in the realization of this agenda, just as they have helped to lay the groundwork for this emerging research area. This talk traces the trajectory of Nordic research initiatives in the environmental humanities in recent years, highlighting in particular how an intensification of scholarly activity in the Nordic countries has contributed to the wider development of this field internationally. The state of the field is also addressed, both globally and within the European context.