Environmental scenarios

This website has limited functionality with javascript off. Please make sure javascript is enabled in your browser.

Problems like climate change, biodiversity loss and natural resource use have long-term implications which require long-term policy solutions. To make informed strategic decisions, we must try to anticipate what lies ahead and grasp ongoing, emerging and latent developments. If we want to seriously address Europe's sustainability, we have to look beyond two legislative cycles and more. More

Key facts and messages: The global population will still be growing midway through the 21st century but at a slower rate than in the past. People will live longer, be better educated and migrate more. Some populations will increase as others shrink. Migration is only one of the unpredictable prospects for Europe... more; The breakneck pace of technological change brings risks and opportunities, not least for developed regions like Europe. These include in particular the emerging cluster of nanotechnology, biotechnology, and information and communication technology. Innovations offer immense opportunities... more; The risk of exposure to new, emerging and re-emerging diseases, to accidents and new pandemics, grows with increasing mobility of people and goods, climate change and poverty. Vulnerable Europeans could be severely affected. more; By increasing tax on pollution and other environmentally-damaging activities, governments can use the extra funds to provide incentives for innovation, such as developing renewable energy. For advanced economies like the EU, such schemes also create new technologies which can be exported globally. more; An increasingly urban world will probably mean spiralling consumption and greater affluence for many. But it also means greater poverty for the urban underprivileged. Poor urban living conditions and associated environmental and health risks could impact all areas of the world, including Europe. more

Environmental tax reform: increasing individual incomes and boosting innovation

Jan 09, 2012

European governments could simultaneously reduce income tax, increase innovation and cut pollution by introducing well-targeted environmental taxes and recycling the revenues back into the economy. This was one of the findings from a pair of reports on environmental tax reform (ETR) published today by the European Environment Agency (EEA).

COP17 climate talks: Mapping the way towards a legal framework by 2015

Dec 19, 2011

A new way forward has been agreed upon in Durban, South Africa, after two weeks of climate change negotiations. The European Union welcomed the agreement from the COP17 climate conference as a breakthrough in the fight against climate change.

New IPCC report addresses risks of extreme events and disasters

Nov 23, 2011

It is "virtually certain" that warm weather extreme events will become more frequent this century, according to a new summary report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 18 November. In order to explore ways of adapting to heatwaves and other extreme events potentially exacerbated in future by climate change, the IPCC has brought together a range of scientific and professional expertise.

Building better environmental policy by looking into the future

Oct 21, 2011

As we prepare for a future yet unwritten, a cascade of uncertainty presents itself - the future structure of our society and economies is uncertain; the environmental changes that may result are uncertain; and how we might react or adapt to such environmental changes is also uncertain. Against the backdrop of these and many other uncertainties, long-term analysis can help create more robust environmental policy and the space for innovative thinking.

EU greenhouse gas emissions estimated to increase in 2010, but long-term decrease expected to continue

Oct 07, 2011

The European Union remains well on track to achieve its Kyoto Protocol target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions despite a 2.4 % emissions increase in 2010, according to first estimates by the European Environment Agency (EEA). The 2010 increase follows a 7 % drop in 2009, largely due to the economic recession and growth of renewable energy generation.

How will the Western Balkans shape its environmental future?

May 12, 2010

Economic development in the Western Balkan countries is putting additional strains on the environment, affecting primarily resource use, waste and biodiversity. A new report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) provides a detailed analysis of the environmental pressures and forces at play and urges policy-makers to take action towards sustainable development.

Environmental tax reform: increasing individual incomes and boosting innovation European governments could simultaneously reduce income tax, increase innovation and cut pollution by introducing well-targeted environmental taxes and recycling the revenues back into the economy. This was one of the findings from a pair of reports on environmental tax reform (ETR) published today by the European Environment Agency (EEA).

COP17 climate talks: Mapping the way towards a legal framework by 2015 A new way forward has been agreed upon in Durban, South Africa, after two weeks of climate change negotiations. The European Union welcomed the agreement from the COP17 climate conference as a breakthrough in the fight against climate change.

New IPCC report addresses risks of extreme events and disasters It is "virtually certain" that warm weather extreme events will become more frequent this century, according to a new summary report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 18 November. In order to explore ways of adapting to heatwaves and other extreme events potentially exacerbated in future by climate change, the IPCC has brought together a range of scientific and professional expertise.

Building better environmental policy by looking into the future As we prepare for a future yet unwritten, a cascade of uncertainty presents itself - the future structure of our society and economies is uncertain; the environmental changes that may result are uncertain; and how we might react or adapt to such environmental changes is also uncertain. Against the backdrop of these and many other uncertainties, long-term analysis can help create more robust environmental policy and the space for innovative thinking.

EU greenhouse gas emissions estimated to increase in 2010, but long-term decrease expected to continue The European Union remains well on track to achieve its Kyoto Protocol target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions despite a 2.4 % emissions increase in 2010, according to first estimates by the European Environment Agency (EEA). The 2010 increase follows a 7 % drop in 2009, largely due to the economic recession and growth of renewable energy generation.

How will the Western Balkans shape its environmental future? Economic development in the Western Balkan countries is putting additional strains on the environment, affecting primarily resource use, waste and biodiversity. A new report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) provides a detailed analysis of the environmental pressures and forces at play and urges policy-makers to take action towards sustainable development.

All items