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Despite efforts to adapt to climate change in Europe, the most vulnerable groups in society are still the most affected. Projected climate change, an ageing society and persisting socio-economic inequalities mean that differences in vulnerability and exposure to climate change are likely to continue.
The CAAR is the EEA’s annual report, providing detailed information on the year’s activities, performance and achievements, as well as operational, budgetary and management reporting.
Influencing consumer choices towards circularity
It is now widely understood that achieving a sustainable Europe will require far-reaching societal change, engaging all areas of the economy and society. The European Green Deal identifies the need for ‘deeply transformative’ policies and actions in the coming decades to put the EU onto a sustainable path. Like the EEA’s 5-yearly report, SOER 2020, it highlights the need to fundamentally transform the production-consumption systems that meet Europe’s demand for energy, food, mobility and shelter. Yet there is also a growing recognition that achieving the EU’s vision of ‘living well, within environmental limits’ will require a deeper transformation of the socio-economic system.
The existing European Union’s (EU) monitoring framework for circular economy was established to track how the EU is transitioning to a more circular economy. To avoid unnecessary added costs and quickly establishing the EU’s monitoring framework, it has been predominantly based on existing data and covers essential elements of the transition. To complement this macro-view on how circular economy progresses in Europe, the European Environment Agency is exploring opportunities to collect new types of data generated for other purposes and, working with other partners, use them to better understand this transformation of Europe’s economy. This briefing provides an overview of four different data types used to prototype new indicators covering different circular economy processes not covered well by data today.
Awareness is increasing about the presence of microplastics in our seas, land and air - and their negative effects on ecosystems, animals and people. Microplastics are directly released into our environment or result from degradation of larger pieces of plastic. Wearing and washing of textiles from synthetic (plastic) fibres is a recognised source of microplastics in the environment. Textiles and plastics are among the key value chains identified in the EU Circular Economy Action Plan and are addressed in its implementation.
This briefing discusses the role of environmental taxes through two lenses. The first, by analysing past and current trends for such taxes in terms of their revenue raising performance as well as their foundation for any reform programme that shifts taxes from labour and capital to resource use and environmental pollution. The second by analysing prospects for energy tax revenues in the coming decades, their role as a component of EU decarbonisation policy towards a climate-neutral Union by 2050, and the implications for future tax shifting programmes.
Parks, urban forests, tree-lined streets and riverbanks support urban well-being by providing space for rest, relaxation and exercise and keeping temperatures down. But not everyone across Europe enjoys equal access to green spaces in cities. This briefing reviews the evidence of socio-economic and demographic inequalities in access to the health benefits derived from urban green and blue spaces across Europe. It showcases examples where green spaces have been designed to meet the needs of vulnerable and disadvantaged social groups.
This briefing provides a snapshot of the status of the traded non-hazardous, recyclable wastes within the EU in order to provide knowledge and information in support of the review of the EU’s Waste Shipment Regulation. The information and knowledge in the briefing aims at improving the functioning of secondary material markets by offering insights and potential solutions so that waste is treated in the best possible way in line with the principles of the waste hierarchy.
Waste prevention is the best waste management policy option, according to the waste hierarchy, the EU's main rule for the environmental ranking of waste management policies. Its main objective is to reduce waste generation, the environmental impacts of waste management and the hazardousness of the waste generated. It is mainly expressed as the aspiration to break the link between waste generation and economic growth (decoupling). To support this objective, the EU and all is Member States have put in place legislation that promotes activities in products' life cycles aimed at reducing the amount of waste generated. At the national level, these policies are described in national or regional waste prevention programmes, which have been in place in most of the countries examined since at least 2013.
This report presents the detailed analysis of eight urban environmental sustainability nexus. These constitute examples to help understand the complexity of urban systems and explore how, in practice, using nexus analysis can help identifying existing challenges, potential trade-offs and co-benefits on actions to achieve urban sustainability objectives and opportunities to move towards better coordinated and integrated policy and action. Findings have been summarized in the main Urban Sustainability in Europe – Avenues for change report.
For the EEA urban environment sustainability means encouraging revitalization and transitions of urban areas and cities to improve livability, promote innovation and reduce environmental impacts while maximizing economical and social co-benefits. This report is based on the EEA conceptual framework for urban environmental sustainability and brings together results of a combined analytical approach based on literature review (a top-down assessment based on nexus analysis) together with results from a survey and interviews with selected cities (a bottom-up approach) on drivers of urban transitions.
For climate change mitigation policies to be successful in reducing greenhouse gas emissions their potential social implications need to be considered and addressed. Together with multiple-level governance coordination and societal participation, these are the key success factors to achieve win-win social-climate policies, minimise the unfair impacts of carbon and energy taxes, and maximise environmental and health benefits.
Addressing Europe’s unprecedented environmental challenges will require policies, investments and knowledge to be brought together to transform the systems driving unsustainability while maximising the environmental, social and economic co benefits. This raises the question of whether it is sufficient to address the existing knowledge gaps — or do we need a new knowledge system for systemic transformation?
Reflecting the EEA’s mandate, the focus of this report is on urban sustainability from an environmental perspective. It presents an urban sustainability conceptual framework based on an extensive knowledge review and has incorporated a broad stakeholder-led process involving both internal (EEA and EIONET), external experts and cross institutional contributions.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the complex and interrelated challenges of climate change, environmental degradation and rising inequality will not be solved without a fundamental transformation of our societies. Far-reaching changes are needed to our technologies and infrastructures, cultures and lifestyles, as well as adaptations to the corresponding governance and institutional frameworks. Around the world, these important system innovations are converging in cities.
The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to influence Europe’s transition towards more environmentally sustainable urbanisation patterns for years to come. European cities have been at the forefront of the crisis from the very beginning, not only bearing the worst impacts but also becoming key actors in advocating for a green and just recovery. This briefing provides an initial overview of how the ongoing pandemic is reshaping urban life and discusses some of the key opportunities for achieving urban environmental sustainability in the aftermath of the crisis.
Submission under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol
Working with nature can help prevent the worst impacts of climate change, and biodiversity and ecosystem loss. Nature-based solutions offer ways to do this. Science and policy have begun to recognise their potential. The knowledge base is expanding rapidly, with gaps identified and plans to fill them. However, challenges for implementation remain at the local level, as demonstrated by the case studies in this report.
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/sustainability-transitions/publications/publications or scan the QR code.
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