Publications

European bathing water quality in 2022

Bathing is an extremely popular and important leisure activity in Europe. European citizens need to know if the quality of lakes, rivers, and coastal and transitional waters is poor, sufficient, good or excellent, so they can make informed decisions on where to bathe without health risks. The current assessment is published in the context of the Zero Pollution Action Plan and covers 21,658 officially designated bathing sites in the 27 EU Member States (EU-27), 119 in Albania and 196 in Switzerland.

Economic instruments and separate collection systems — key strategies to increase recycling

The EU has set ambitious targets to improve municipal waste management. EU Member States need effective strategies and policy instruments to achieve these targets. This briefing provides an overview of some of the main instruments used across the EU and the performance of Member States so far.

Many EU Member States not on track to meet recycling targets for municipal waste and packaging waste

Europe aims to become a circular economy. To encourage this, the EU has set targets for the 27 Member States (EU-27) to increase recycling and reduce landfilling. Specifically, by 2025, 55% of municipal waste and 65% of packaging waste must be prepared for re-use or recycled. This briefing assesses Member States’ prospects of meeting these targets and its findings constitute the basis of the European Commission’s 2023 early warning report.

How far is Europe from reaching its ambition to double the circular use of materials?

The EU economy uses unsustainably large amounts of materials. In 2021, only 11.7% of these materials came from recycled waste. This share of recycled material is known as the circular material use rate (CMUR) and over the last 20 years it has increased only slightly. The EU’s circular economy action plan aims to double that share by 2030. This briefing looks at trends in the EU’s circular material use rate and the environmental impacts of material use. It also analyses the EU’s prospects for reaching its 2030 target.

From the daily office commute to flexible working patterns — teleworking and sustainability

The COVID-19 pandemic transformed our traditional understanding of ‘work’ and pushed us to embrace new ways of working. Instead of the daily commute to the office, many people are choosing to work from home or a 'third place'. This briefing builds on the outcome of a participatory foresight process and desk research to examine how teleworking could affect our daily lives, our health and the environment.

The importance of restoring nature in Europe

Nature, along with its inherent biodiversity, is key to functioning societies and economies. It provides the food we eat, filters the water we drink, cleans the air we breathe, and is important for our mental and physical health. Yet in the EU, many habitats and species are in a poor or bad state, and only a very small fraction of these has shown any improvement over recent years. The restoration of Europe’s habitats and species is important not only for the inherent value of nature itself: it is also key for improved human health and well-being, and reduced climate change impacts.

How pesticides impact human health and ecosystems in Europe

Food production systems in Europe rely on chemical pesticides to maintain crop yields. However, widespread pesticide use is a major source of pollution — contaminating water, soil and air, driving biodiversity loss, and leading to pest resistance. Human exposure to chemical pesticides is linked to chronic illnesses such as cancer, and heart, respiratory and neurological diseases. This briefing summarises the latest knowledge on how chemical pesticides impact human health and the environment, and presents good practices to reduce their use and risk across Europe.

Europe’s air quality status 2023

Air pollution is the largest environmental health risk in Europe, causing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases that lead to the loss of healthy years of life and, in the worst cases, to preventable deaths. This briefing presents the status of concentrations of pollutants in ambient air in 2021 and 2022 for regulated pollutants, in relation to both EU air quality standards and the 2021 WHO guideline levels. The assessment shows that, in spite of constant improvements, exceedances of air quality standards are common across the EU, with concentrations well above the latest WHO recommendations.

Air pollution and children's health

While air pollution affects everyone, children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable because their bodies, organs and immune systems are still developing. Air pollution damages health during childhood and increases the risk of diseases later in life, yet children can do little to protect themselves or influence air quality policies. Until air pollution overall is reduced to safe levels, improving air quality around child-centric settings like schools and kindergartens can help reduce their exposure.

How are European forest ecosystems doing?

To sustain their multiple services, forests must be both resistant and resilient. Resistance refers to a forest’s ability to resist or withstand external pressures such as pests, disease or natural disturbances. Resilience refers to a forest’s ability to recover and adapt after a disturbance. Maintaining healthy forests requires a combination of strategies, including sustainable management practices, landscape-scale planning, and proactive efforts to address the impacts of climate change. This way, forests can continue to provide the many benefits that society depends on, both now and in the future.

European forest ecosystems: key allies in sustainable development

European forests are vital to achieving Sustainable Development Goals 15 and 6, related to life on land, and clean water and sanitation, respectively. Insights into the current state of European forest ecosystems, drivers of societal demands and other pressures, and their governance are essential for effective management and decision-making at local, regional and European levels. This briefing outlines the main characteristics of forests in Europe today and some key trends around their extent and condition.

Exiting the Anthropocene? Exploring fundamental change in our relationship with nature

The ways in which societies, institutions and citizens relate to and value nature have played a key role in the interconnected biodiversity, climate change, natural resource and health crises we face. This briefing explores how to reframe the relationships between humans and nature. It examines how holistically understanding humans’ deep interconnection with other life forms and ecosystems could lead to new motivations to protect nature and accelerate the societal transformation we need to live well within the limits of the planet.

Managing the systemic use of chemicals in Europe

Chemicals are embedded in practically every single manufactured good in the EU. On the one hand, chemicals play a key role in ensuring quality of life and offer new solutions to deliver the green and the digital transitions. On the other, our increasing reliance on chemicals leads to serious problems. From creating adverse health effects to contributing to the climate crisis, chemicals come with a cost — so much so that we have now exceeded the planetary boundary for chemical pollution. Where do we go from here? This briefing describes the systemic use of chemicals across Europe’s current systems of production and consumption. Moreover, it discusses key policy measures foreseen in the European Green Deal’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability that offer significant potential to ensure consumer safety, cut pollution and clean up material flows.

Assessing the costs and benefits of climate change adaptation

Climate change is happening. To reduce its economic impact, adaptation and mitigation actions are urgently needed. Decision-makers need to understand their benefits and costs compared to not acting at all. This briefing summarises the main assessment concepts, key methods and related challenges and constraints, and provides practical examples of approaches relevant to the EU.

EU exports of used textiles in Europe’s circular economy

Textiles are on average the fourth-highest source of pressure on the environment and climate change from a European consumption perspective, as shown in previous EEA briefings. Europe faces major challenges managing used textiles, including textiles waste. As reuse and recycling capacities in Europe are limited, a large share of used textiles collected in the EU is traded and exported to Africa and Asia, and their fate is highly uncertain. The common public perception of used clothing donations as generous gifts to people in need does not fully match reality.

Air pollution in Europe: 2024 reporting status under the National Emission reduction Commitments Directive

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 role of plastics in Europe’s circular economy

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.

Decarbonising heating and cooling — a climate imperative

The EU has met its target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020, compared with 1990 levels. However, meeting targets for 2030 and beyond requires a doubling of the annual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions achieved between 2005 and 2020. Heating and cooling account for half of the final EU energy use. With energy used for heating being significant, decarbonising heating is therefore critical. Solutions to save energy and introduce efficient, renewable heating and cooling systems exist and must be rolled out faster. This briefing looks at heating and cooling trends across the EU. It highlights the twin benefits — for climate mitigation and security of supply — of combining energy efficiency and conservation measures with rapidly switching to renewable and waste energy use in heating and cooling.

Pathways towards circular plastics in Europe — good practice examples from countries, business and citizens

Plastics play an essential role in modern society. However, their value chain is currently unsustainable, contributing to the generation of climate changing emissions and increasing waste and pollution. Reducing such impacts while retaining plastics’ usefulness requires a shift towards a more circular and sustainable plastics system. This shift can be accelerated by scaling up good practice examples and making improvements across the plastics value chain.

Financing nature as a solution

Biodiversity is strongly declining in Europe and across the world. To reverse this, we need to use all available tools to strengthen actions taken by governments, businesses and consumers. Public policy tools (such as establishing nature reserves, regulating hunting and fishing, and providing support for biodiversity-friendly farming) are widely used to tackle biodiversity loss. However, the actions of consumers and businesses are also very important. This briefing focuses on key areas for further development to build the knowledge that is needed to finance biodiversity.