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Between 2010 and 2019, industrial releases to Europe’s water bodies of pollutants that are damaging to human health and the environment declined overall. Releases of heavy metals declined significantly, while emissions of nitrogen and phosphorus, which cause eutrophication, declined to a lesser extent. In the same period, the economic value of industry increased by 14%, in line with the EU policy objective of supporting industrial growth while decreasing industrial emissions. However, data gaps make it difficult to assess industry’s contribution to overall water pollution in Europe.
Industrial releases of air pollutants that are damaging to human health and the environment decreased between 2010 and 2019 in Europe, with emissions of greenhouse gases (e.g. CO 2 and sulphur oxides) and other pollutants (e.g. nitrogen oxides, dust and heavy metals) all declining significantly. The value that industry generated for the European economy during this period increased, however, in line with the goal of the EU industrial strategy: to support the competitiveness of European industry while driving a reduction in emissions, the use of natural resources and the production of waste.
These maps show the relative change in 10-year river water deficit under the 95th percentile for two greenhouse gas emissions scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5)
The map provides an overview of the extent of urban areas at higher risk of being directly affected by forest fires (burning down) under current conditions.
Between 2004 and 2019, emissions from large combustion plants in the EU decreased: SO 2 by 89%, nitrogen oxides by 60% and dust by 88%. Declines in emissions and improvements in environmental performance were largely driven by European policy, which sets legally binding emission limit values. The amount of fossil fuels used decreased by 23%, as energy production shifts to climate-friendly sources. Stricter emission limit values and policies aimed at increasing the use of renewable or cleaner fuels are expected to drive further declines in combustion plant emissions in coming years.
Reduction of emissions from large combustion plants since 2004, the first year with reported data, across the three reportable pollutants under the Directive on Large Combustion Plants and its successor, the Directive on industrial emissions. Data are for large combustion plants covered by the Large Combustion Plants Directive (until 2015) and the Industrial Emissions Directive (as from 2016). Data from Croatia are only available as of 2009, while its influence in the overall EU-27 numbers is negligible. Data as of 2016 include a small number of additional plants, due to changes in the scope of reporting, so emissions are not fully comparable before and after 2016. Data were processed to remove outliers and gap-fill missing data.
Following a steady decline until 2016, average CO 2 emissions from new passenger cars registered in Europe increased between 2017 and 2019. Key reasons include the growth in the sport utility vehicle segment and an increased average mass. In 2019, average CO 2 emissions from all new cars reached 122.3 g CO 2 /km. Although this is below the EU fleet-wide target of 130 g CO 2 /km set for the period 2015-2019, it is well above the 2021 target of 95 g CO 2 /km, phased-in in 2020. Most car manufacturers met their individual binding CO 2 emission targets for fleets of newly registered passenger cars in 2019.
Following a steady decline until 2017 and a slight increase between 2017 and 2018, average specific CO 2 emissions from new vans registered in Europe remained stable at 158.0 g CO 2 /km in 2019. Although this is below the fleet-wide target of 175 g CO 2 /km that applied in the period 2014-2019, it is well above the 147 g CO 2 /km target which applies since 2020. In 2019, almost all van manufacturers met their binding CO 2 emissions target.
Regulation (EU) 2018/956 requires EU Member States and manufacturers to report data related to heavy-duty vehicles. Member States report trucks, buses and trailers registered in their territory. Manufacturers report trucks of specific types that are subject to certification requirements. The reporting periods are annual and run from 1st July to 30 June the following year. One exception was the first reporting which covered 1st January 2019 to 30 June 2020. In addition, the dataset covers the United Kingdom and Norway who reported data in line with the Regulation (EU) 2018/956 (the UK was subject to the Regulation in the reporting period 2019-20).
Birds and butterflies are sensitive to environmental change and can indicate the health of the environment. Long-term monitoring shows significant declines in farmland birds and grassland butterflies. Between 1990 and 2019, the index of 168 common birds decreased by 8% in the 25 EU Member States with monitoring schemes. The decline in common farmland birds over the same period was much more pronounced at 27%, while the common forest bird index increased by 5%. Between 1991 and 2018 the grassland butterfly index also declined strongly, by 25%, in the 19 EU countries with monitoring data.
Common bird index shows the population trends of farmland, forest and all common bird species
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/find/global or scan the QR code.
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