Press releases

Opportunities to secure healthy marine ecosystems and a sustainable future for European fisheries

Europe’s regional seas are generally in poor condition which threatens the long-term competitiveness and sustainability of the European fishing industry. Overfishing, bycatch and habitat degradation drive the decline of marine biodiversity in Europe’s seas, together with pressures from eutrophication, pollution and climate change. The European Environment Agency’s (EEA) briefing, published today, shows that there are proven, beneficial measures that can improve the situation, if successfully implemented.

Anchoring environment, climate and sustainability as part of the EU’s strategic priorities is key to success

How can Europe stay the course on sustainability amid shocks and crises? How do we anchor environment and climate priorities with other emerging ones like security, competitiveness and fairness without losing sight of the long-term sustainability objective of ‘living well within the limits of our planet’? A new strategic foresight report, published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) today, calls for the need to further align European economic, social and security policies with the climate and environmental objectives.

Climate adaptation case studies can help boost know-how across Europe

While European countries have made considerable progress in putting in place policies to adapt to climate change, the pace and scale of adaptation actions need to increase and widen to cover more areas like the health, agriculture, and forestry sectors. A European Environment Agency (EEA) review of the EU’s Climate-ADAPT online platform, published today, shows that sharing examples of adaptation actions can boost learning across the EU, Member States as well as regional and local authorities to help societies better prepare for climate change.

Key air pollutant emissions decline across the EU, reducing ammonia biggest challenge

Key air pollutant emissions targeted for reductions and monitored under EU legislation continued to decline across most EU Member States according to the latest data assessment published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) today. However, reducing ammonia emissions remains a problem.

More than ‘bouncing back’: leveraging transformative resilience and new governance thinking under shocks and complexity

Global pandemic, war, inflation and other shocks and crises have tested the European Green Deal and its ambition of building a climate-neutral and sustainable economy. Published today, two new European Environment Agency (EEA) reports discuss how Europe can respond to the pressing and complex societal challenges while moving towards long-term sustainability goals.

New EEA monitoring tool reviews progress on plastics circularity in Europe

Plastics production and consumption patterns across Europe remain unsustainable and need to be made more circular to reduce waste, pollution, climate change and other negative impacts on the environment according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing published today. The briefing also highlights the introduction of a new monitoring tool where people, policy makers and others can check progress on plastics circularity in Europe.

EEA launches Urban Treasures photo competition 2024: capture green in our cities!

Calling all treasure hunters! Get your cameras ready to head into the city to capture positive and inspiring green moments that give us joy and hope for a more sustainable tomorrow. This year’s European Environment Agency (EEA) photo competition ‘Urban Treasures’, launched today, aims to celebrate through pictures the strides we are making to green and improve our urban neighbourhoods.

New data: CO2 emissions from new cars and vans further decrease as electric vehicle sales grow in Europe

Average CO 2 emissions from all new cars registered in Europe in 2023 continued to decrease and were 1.4% lower than in 2022, according to new provisional data published today by the European Environment Agency. Similarly, average CO 2 emissions from new vans continued to fall, and were 1.6% lower than in 2022. The reductions in emissions from new cars and vans are related to the growing share of fully electric vehicles.

Europe’s air quality keeps improving but pollution levels are still unsafe in many areas

Air quality has improved considerably in Europe over the past decades, but polluted air is still the biggest environmental health hazard in Europe and globally. According to the European Environment Agency’s (EEA) analysis on air quality data for 2022 and 2023, published today, Europe’s air quality continues improving but, in many areas, especially in cities, pollution remains above recommended safe levels.

Europe’s bathing waters remain safe

The vast majority of bathing water sites in Europe met the European Union's most stringent ‘excellent’ bathing quality standards in 2023, according to the latest annual bathing water assessment published today. This represents 85% of Europe’s popular bathing waters. As much as 96% of all officially identified bathing waters in the EU met the minimum quality standards, with only 1.5% rated as ‘poor'.

Most textile waste goes unsorted in Europe

Starting next year, EU Member States must put separate collection systems in place for textiles . The European Environment Agency’s briefing, published today, shows that most textile waste in Europe currently ends up in mixed waste and that sorting and recycling capacity need to be urgently scaled up to ensure better and more circular use of used textiles.

Climate health risks posed by floods, droughts and water quality call for urgent action

Climate change is worsening floods, droughts and is reducing water quality, posing an increasing threat to our health, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) report published today . Fast-tracking implementation and better coordination of efforts by governments, water authorities and healthcare providers are urgently needed to prevent and reduce health impacts.

Reducing use and improved monitoring can help tackle antimicrobial pollution from livestock, fish farming

While the use of antimicrobial drugs in farmed animals and in aquaculture has decreased over the past few years in Europe, the on-going presence of antimicrobial residues in the environment poses risks to ecosystems and human health, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing published today.

Cities are key to a climate-resilient Europe, stronger adaptation targets can boost progress

Most Europeans live in urban areas and cities play a key role in protecting citizens and improving the resilience of European societies against the increasing impacts of climate change. The European Environment Agency’s report, published today, takes stock of urban adaptation in Europe, showcasing what actions cities are taking in response to increasing climate risks, and what is already working.

EU Agencies: more work needed to make chemicals safe and sustainable

The transition towards safer and more sustainable chemicals is progressing in some areas, while in others, it is just beginning. This is the finding of a first, joint Europe-wide assessment of the drivers and impact of chemical pollution by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) published today. The benchmarking found that more work is still needed to reduce the impact of harmful substances on human health and the environment.

Now is the time to accelerate the shift to a more circular Europe

Despite legislative steps forward over the past five years, efforts to transform Europe’s largely linear, ‘throw-away’ economy into a circular one will require further bold action and strong implementation of existing measures. Decisive action is essential to drastically reduce waste, prioritise reduction of resource use, improve recycling rates and improve the introduction of products that are designed for circularity from the outset, according to a major European Environment Agency (EEA) state of play assessment on the circular economy, published today.

Europe is not prepared for rapidly growing climate risks

Europe is the fastest warming continent in the world, and climate risks are threatening its energy and food security, ecosystems, infrastructure, water resources, financial stability, and people’s health. According to the European Environment Agency’s (EEA) assessment, published today, many of these risks have already reached critical levels and could become catastrophic without urgent and decisive action.

Many returned and unsold textiles end up destroyed in Europe

Textile consumption in Europe causes significant pressures on the environment and climate. Part of these pressures comes from returned and unsold textiles that are destroyed and never used for their intended purpose. A new European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing looks at the issue and estimates the share of returned and unsold textiles that are destroyed in Europe and options to address this challenge.

What does a just transition to sustainability look like and how do we deliver?

What do we mean by a ‘just transition’ to a sustainable future? A European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing, published today, looks into how a shift to a greener, climate-neutral, circular economy will impact our society and describes how policies must be informed by concepts of justice and fairness if they are to succeed.

Better links between waste management, circular economy and climate change mitigation measures can boost greenhouse gas emission reductions

Recycling, repair, re-use or reducing material consumption through circular business models can provide important additional reductions in greenhouse gas emissions helping to boost Europe’s climate change mitigation efforts, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing published today.