For many years, churches and groups of Christians have been seeking to address the environmental concerns implicit in the biblical command to work and to care for God's creation. The nature and extent of this work of this varies greatly in countries and different localities, but in recent years, those working on environmental issues in the churches have become increasingly aware of the need to share and work together. The First European Ecumenical Assembly in Basel in 1989 alerted many in the wider church family to the importance of environmental issues. The CEC/CCEE Mulheim and Crete conferences in 1995, the EECCS Ecology and Economics working group (1993-98), and the 1996-7 WCC petition on climate change all represented stages in a greater working together.

It was at the Second European Ecumenical Assembly in June 1997, however, that the key steps were taken to bring about the goal of a pan-European churches' network on the environment. Following Graz, a series of meetings of an ad hoc working group were held from 1997-8. These led to a proposal to invite churches across Europe to send representatives to what became the inaugural Assembly of ECEN in Vilemov in October 1998.