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Europe’s air quality status 2022: Air pollution is the single largest environmental health risk in Europe, causing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases that lead to the loss of healthy years of life and, in the most serious cases, to premature deaths. This briefing presents the status of concentrations of pollutants in ambient air in 2020 and 2021 by pollutant, in relation to both EU air quality standards and the WHO guidelines, updated in 2021. The assessment shows that exceedances of air quality standards are common across the EU, with concentrations well above the latest WHO recommendations. Nevertheless, in 2020, lockdown measures adopted to minimise the spread of COVID-19 had a temporary impact on emissions of air pollution from road transport and led to improved air quality.

Air quality in Europe 2021: Air pollution is the single largest environmental health risk in Europe and has significant impacts on the health of the European population, particularly in urban areas. While emissions of key air pollutants and their concentrations in ambient air have fallen significantly over the past two decades in Europe, air quality remains poor in many areas.

Health impacts of air pollution in Europe, 2021: Air pollution is a major cause of premature death and disease and is the single largest environmental health risk in Europe. Heart disease and stroke are the most common reasons for premature deaths attributable to air pollution, followed by lung diseases and lung cancer. This chapter estimates the potential health benefits of attaining the EU air quality standards and the WHO guideline values for fine particulate matter in ambient air. It also assesses progress towards the health-related objective of the EU’s Zero Pollution Action Plan. Finally, it presents the latest estimates of the health impacts of exposure to the following key air pollutants: fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ozone.

The costs to health and the environment from industrial air pollution in Europe – 2024 update: The economic costs associated with the negative impacts of air pollution caused by Europe’s industrial plants are substantial. The methods of estimating the damage or ‘external’ costs associated with industrial pollution’s impacts on human health, ecosystems, infrastructure and climate continue to evolve. This briefing presents the latest assessment of the trends in externalities of industrial air pollution caused by over 10,000 facilities during the last decade (2012-2021).

The European environment — state and outlook 2020: knowledge for transition to a sustainable Europe: Europe will not achieve its 2030 goals without urgent action during the next 10 years to address the alarming rate of biodiversity loss, increasing impacts of climate change and the overconsumption of natural resources. The European Environment Agency’s (EEA) latest ‘State of the Environment’ report states that Europe faces environmental challenges of unprecedented scale and urgency.

The European environment — state and outlook: Welcome to the European State of the Environment website. The European environment – state and outlook is published by the EEA every five years as mandated in its regulation.

Building renovation: where circular economy and climate meet: Buildings are important in EU environmental and climate policy for several reasons, including their greenhouse gas emissions and high consumption of material resources. Improved design and building techniques will produce highly efficient new buildings, but more than 85% of today's buildings are likely to still be in use in 2050. This briefing examines potential renovation activities that could improve the sustainability of existing buildings and the implications for embedded greenhouse gas emissions and resource use.

Multiple pressures and their combined effects in Europe’s seas: Europe’s seas are overexploited. Most of Europe’s marine area (93 %) is under multiple pressures from human activities, which have reached the most remote areas. The EU’s maritime economy will not be sustainable unless it is confined to the current ecological limits of marine ecosystems. That means decoupling human activities on land and sea from the degradation and depletion of marine ecosystem capital. This briefing summarises a spatial assessment of the multiple pressures on Europe’s seas (ETC/ICM, 2019a).

Multiple pressures and their combined effects in Europe’s seas: Europe’s seas are overexploited. Most of Europe’s marine area (93 %) is under multiple pressures from human activities, which have reached the most remote areas. The EU’s maritime economy will not be sustainable unless it is confined to the current ecological limits of marine ecosystems. That means decoupling human activities on land and sea from the degradation and depletion of marine ecosystem capital. This briefing summarises a spatial assessment of the multiple pressures on Europe’s seas (ETC/ICM, 2019a).

Natura 2000 coverage in Europe's seas: Natura 2000 data refers to information reported by Member States by the end of 2022. Europe's seas are defined by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) marine regions (in bold below) and subregions.