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Designing safe and sustainable products requires a new approach for chemicals
The EU chemicals strategy for sustainability aims to ensure that chemicals are ‘produced and used in a way that maximises their contribution to society … while avoiding harm to the planet and to current and future generations’ (EC, 2020). Building sustainability dimensions into products’ design phase can support the delivery of these objectives. Key features of sustainable products include chemical safety, recyclability and a low environmental impact. This briefing describes approaches that are safe and sustainable by design and identifies enabling conditions, which support their uptake, and the related challenges and opportunities.
Renewable electricity as % of gross electricity consumption (2005 data) EU-27
The Renewable Electricity Directive (2001/77/EC) defines renewable electricity as the share of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in total electricity consumption
Renewable electricity generation in selected countries and regions (percentage of global total renewable electricity generation)
The renewables considered include hydro (small and large), biomass and waste, wind, geothermal, solar, tide and wave.
Renewables as a % of final energy consumption by Member State (2005 data)
The targets proposed in EC (2008) are provisional and may be subject to change.
Share of combined heat and power in the gross electricity production in 2005
The share is defined as the proportion of CHP electricity production (from both auto-producers and public utilities) in the total electricity production
Share of environmental taxes in the total tax revenue in 1995 and 2005
The data for 2004 are only available for Portugal and Malta
Share of taxes in the electricity prices paid by households in 2007
Share of taxes in the gas prices paid by households in 2007
Share of total primary energy consumption by fuel, by country in 2005
Negative shares of electricity indicate exports and the reverse is true for imports.
Shares of total CO2 emissions (percentage of global total)
Total CO2 emissions include emissions from power generation, other energy sector and total final consumption
Structure of CO2 emissions from thermal power plants in EU-27
Structure of the efficiency of transformation and distribution of energy: from primary energy consumption to final energy consumption, EU-27, 2005
Total energy-related CO2 emissions in the EU, USA, Russia and China
Total installed electrical and thermal capacity for RES sources, 2006
Data for large hydro is for 2005.
Total primary energy consumption by fuel, EU-27
Total stored amount of high level waste
No information has been included for Bulgaria due to a lack of data.
Trends in greenhouse gas emissions by sector between 1990-2005, EU-27
Trends in nominal end-user energy prices and disposable income, EU-15
Data are not available for Luxembourg or Ireland.
Trends in total energy intensity, gross domestic product and total energy consumption, EU-27
To compute the EU27 GDP index in 1990, it was necessary to make some assumptions
Oil production and discharges from offshore oil installations in the north-east Atlantic
Data available only from Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Norway; hence, coverage is restricted to the north-east Atlantic; no data for 1991 and 1993.
Overall changes in energy-related emissions by main group of air pollutants in the EU-27, 1990-2005
The change in particulate matter includes emissions of both primary and secondary particulate-forming pollutants (the fraction of sulphur dioxide SO2, nitrogen oxides NOX and ammonia NH3 which, as a result of photo-chemical reactions in the atmosphere, transform into particulate matter with a diameter of 10 ¼m or less)
Percentage of premature cancer deaths attributable to environmental risks in Europe in 2019
Environmental protection expenditure
Increasing environment- and climate-related expenditure can help meet the objectives of the European Green Deal. Environmental Protection Expenditure Accounts (EPEA) measure the economic resources used for prevention, reduction, and elimination of pollution and any other degradation of the environment. Expenditure increased between 2018 and 2024 from 352 billion to 367 billion euros in the European Union. This represents a modest real term increase of 4.2% after inflation adjustments. EPE as a share of GDP declined to 2.0% in 2024, the lowest level recorded during the assessed period.
Eco-innovation index in Europe
Eco-innovation, which is crucial for achieving the European Green Deal objective of transitioning to a carbon-neutral and sustainable economy, has increased in the European Union. The European Commission’s eco-innovation index increased by 27.5% from 2014 to 2024, mainly driven by improvements in resource efficiency. This steady increase in recent years is expected to continue, as the European Green Deal has set ambitious environment- and climate-related objectives. Its associated initiatives are very likely to create favourable conditions for more eco-innovation.
Designing safe and sustainable products requires a new approach for chemicals
The EU chemicals strategy for sustainability aims to ensure that chemicals are ‘produced and used in a way that maximises their contribution to society … while avoiding harm to the planet and to current and future generations’ (EC, 2020). Building sustainability dimensions into products’ design phase can support the delivery of these objectives. Key features of sustainable products include chemical safety, recyclability and a low environmental impact. This briefing describes approaches that are safe and sustainable by design and identifies enabling conditions, which support their uptake, and the related challenges and opportunities.