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The European Environment Information and Observation Network (Eionet) is a partnership network of the EEA and its member and cooperating countries. This briefing presents the results of data collected in 2023 for 12 Eionet core data flows. It summarises the evaluation of hundreds of data deliveries received from reporting countries. The purpose of the briefing is to show progress against agreed reporting criteria (timeliness and data quality), allowing countries to identify and prioritise the resources they need for regular reporting procedures. The provision of high-quality data by Eionet is fundamental for the EEA to achieve its mission to provide timely, targeted, relevant and reliable information to policy-making agents and the public.
To become sustainable, Europe must change some of the ways people live, work, produce and consume. Using policy to achieve such complex and large-scale transformations is not easy. This briefing explores how to future-proof sustainability policies and avoid blind spots through a foresight-based framework, which includes several participatory exercises involving a multidisciplinary group of experts. Assessing future risks and their potential impacts can identify mitigation measures and safeguard strategies to encourage the transition to sustainability and feed future policy.
Polycrisis. This rather disturbing term has come to be used to describe the current context in which our societies and politics operate. Broadly speaking, polycrisis describes a convergence of economic, social, geopolitical and environmental crises which together create systemic risks to the world as we know it. Regardless of the term itself, the EU's efforts to transition to sustainability now exist within such a context, putting environmental policy implementation under strain and calling for a balance between short-term responses and long-term sustainability goals.
Countries in Europe have made considerable progress in developing and planning policies to adapt to climate change. However, the pace and scale of adaptation actions needs to increase, as Europe is still not adequately prepared to address the risks posed by climate change. This briefing aims to inspire further adaptation actions across Europe. It presents Climate-ADAPT case studies as a pool of practical examples of implemented adaptation measures. These examples are applicable at different governance levels and policy sectors across European countries and can facilitate peer-to-peer learning.
This briefing describes progress made by the EU and its Member States towards reducing emissions of the five main air pollutants regulated under the National Emission reduction Commitments Directive. It assesses Member State performance against emission reduction commitments for 2020-2029, as well as progress towards meeting more ambitious reduction commitments that will apply 2030 onwards. It also highlights trends for a broader range of air pollutants and their sources in Europe. The briefing is based on the latest data reported by Member States in 2024 for their 2022 emissions.
The report looks at air pollutant emissions reported by the EU under the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (the Air Convention) and includes a wide range of substances. These include the five main air pollutants (NOX, NMVOCs, SO2, NH3 and PM2.5) but also others such as heavy metals, black carbon or persistent organic pollutants.
The triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution is just one of many interconnected crises currently challenging European and global governance, as traditional problem-solving tools are proving inadequate. This report introduces 'governance in complexity', an approach designed to respond to sustainability challenges by appreciating their uncertain and complex nature. Key principles underlined in this approach include experimentation, systems thinking, participation, precaution, anticipation, and care.
The EU's long-term transition to environmental, social and economic sustainability runs alongside several large-scale crises. Amidst the 'triple crisis' of climate change, biodiversity loss and the impact of environmental pollution on human health (UNEP, 2020), we also face crises in the political, economic and social spheres, including the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, the 'slowbalisation' of the global economy and trade (European Parliament, 2020) and growing societal fragmentation over values and identities.
Plastics are essential in society. Yet value chains are unsustainable — generating emissions and increasing waste and pollution. Reducing such impacts demands moving towards a circular and sustainable plastics system. This briefing covers plastics production and consumption in Europe, the impacts on the environment and climate change, and how we can shift to a circular economy for plastics. Work from the Circularity Metrics Lab on plastics (EEA, 2024a) and a report on the Circularity Metrics Lab for Plastics from the European Topic Centre on Circular Economy and Resource Use inform this briefing.
Air pollution is Europe’s largest environmental health risk, causing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases that impact health, reduce quality of life and cause preventable deaths. This briefing presents the status of regulated pollutants in ambient air in 2022 and 2023 in relation to current EU air quality standards and World Health Organization (WHO) guideline levels.
From the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, most of Europe’s bathing waters are of excellent quality for swimming when assessed against the two specific health relevant parameters (Escherichia coli – or E. coli – and intestinal enterococci) as required under the Bathing Water Directive (EU, 2006). This briefing provides information on the quality of Europe’s bathing waters, and is complemented by a map viewer to help citizens take informed decisions on where to bathe. The briefing is published in the context of the Zero pollution action plan and is based on analysis of data reported by EU Members States for the 2020-2023 bathing seasons.
The Waste Framework Directive (WFD) mandates that from 2025, EU Member States must establish separate collection systems for used textiles. This briefing provides an overview of the current state of textile waste generation, collection systems, treatment capacity and the different classifications for used textiles in Europe. Additionally, it identifies factors which must be considered when implementing separate collection systems to foster the circularity of textiles without inadvertently increasing exports, incineration, or landfilling.
This report aims to raise awareness about the range of risks to human health associated with changes in water quantity and quality under the changing climate. It assesses our preparedness for ongoing and future impacts by examining the current policy landscape in Europe. At the same time, it seeks to inspire action by showing examples of practical measures implemented across various sectors and on various scales in the EEA member and collaborating countries.
Antimicrobials are an essential tool to prevent or treat disease in humans and animals. In food systems, they help to ensure the health and welfare of animals raised for food. However, their use can also lead to environmental pollution and potentially affect human health, including by contributing to the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This briefing summarises the latest knowledge on how antimicrobials used in food-producing animals may impact the health of humans, animals and ecosystems, and reviews progress in reducing their use in Europe’s food system.
Average temperatures across Europe are rising faster than the global average, and Europe's cities are feeling the impacts of climate change more regularly and more severely. With the summer of 2023 breaking temperature records, the case for investing in societal resilience to climate change has never been clearer.
The chemicals strategy for sustainability towards a toxic-free environment (CSS) embraces two overarching goals of the chemicals legislation: preventing harm to people and the planet from hazardous chemicals and their toxic effects and supporting EU industry in the production of safe and sustainable chemicals.
The circular economy is now a widely accepted concept. It goes beyond just managing waste: it is more about keeping the value of materials high and making them last longer in their intended use. It also seeks to design unnecessary material use out of the economy. This requires new business models and a more decisive transition from ownership models to service-based solutions. A comprehensive set of new circularity policies has been introduced at EU level and there is evidence of increased circular activities in EU Member States.
The first European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA) identifies 36 climate risks that pose a threat to Europe’s energy and food security, ecosystems, infrastructure, water resources, financial stability, and people’s health. It shows that many of these risks have already reached critical levels and can become catastrophic without urgent and decisive action. The knowledge in this first-of-its-kind assessment is synthesised to support strategic policymaking.
EU policymakers have recently decided to introduce a direct ban on the destruction of textiles and footwear with some exemptions for small, micro and medium-sized companies. In this briefing, the EEA provides an overview of what is currently known about the volumes and destruction of returned and unsold textiles in Europe. The growth of online shopping, flexible return practices, changed consumer preferences and fast-fashion business strategies in Europe have resulted in increased shares of returned and unsold textiles. Over the past years, fast fashion as well as luxury brands, have been reported to destroy returned or unsold clothing, shoes and other textiles. Textile product destruction, where products are destroyed by retailers, brands or manufacturers before use, is an example of a resource ‘take-make-waste’ approach, highlighting the inefficiency of current linear production-consumption systems which cause avoidable negative impacts on the environment and climate.
The EU is committed to a just and inclusive future of living well within planetary boundaries. To reach this sustainable future, society must go through processes of transition that improve the quality of life of current and future generations. Sustainability transitions must lead to wellbeing for both people and other species, while respecting ecological boundaries and addressing existing injustices linked to environmental degradation and climate change. At the same time, there is a need to make sure that the policies enacted to achieve sustainability do not create new inequalities or exacerbate existing ones. This briefing puts forward a conceptual framework to support the development of just and equitable sustainability transition policies.
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