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Mitigating climate change - key fact 1: Global cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are insufficient to keep average world temperature increases below 2° C.

Mitigating climate change - key fact 2: The EU contributes around 12 % of annual global anthropogenic direct greenhouse gas emissions.

Understanding climate change — key message 6: Recent research suggests that several key components of the climate system could undergo irreversible change at significantly lower levels of global temperature increase than previously assessed. The most important of these “tipping elements” for Europe are the Greenland ice sheet, Alpine glaciers, and Arctic sea ice.

Understanding climate change — key message 5: The vast majority of glaciers in Europe are in retreat. Glaciers in the Alps lost about two-thirds of their volume between 1850 and 2009. The glacierised area in the Alps is projected to decrease to about one-third of the present area for a further rise in Alpine summer temperature of 2 °C.

Understanding climate change — key message 4: Observed global mean sea level rise has accelerated over the past 15 years. From 2002 to 2009 the contributions of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets to sea level rise increased. In 2007 the IPCC projected a sea level rise of 0.18 to 0.59 m above the 1990 level by 2100 excluding the effects of dynamic ice sheet processes. Recent projections show a maximum increase of about 1.0 m by 2100, while higher values up to 2.0 m cannot be excluded.

Understanding climate change — key message 3: The extent of Arctic summer sea ice has declined by about 10 % per decade since 1979. The extent of the minimum ice cover in September 2007 was half the size of the normal minimum extent in the 1950s; the third lowest minimum extent occurred in September 2010. The summer ice is also getting thinner and younger.

Understanding climate change — key message 2: Land and ocean sinks have taken up more than half of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions since 1800, but these natural sinks are vulnerable to climate and land-use change and are highly likely to take up less CO2 in future.

Understanding climate change — key message 1: Global mean temperature in 2009 was 0.7-0.8 °C higher than in pre-industrial times and the decade 2000-2009 was the warmest on record. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded in 2007 that most of the global warming since the middle of the 20th century is very likely to have been due to human influences.

Understanding climate change - key fact 7: Recent projections show a maximum increase of sea level of about 1.0 m by 2100, while higher values up to 2.0 m cannot be excluded.

Understanding climate change - key fact 6: In 2007, the IPCC projected a sea level rise of 0.18 to 0.59 m above the 1990 level by 2100.

Understanding climate change - key fact 5: The third lowest minimum of Arctic summer sea ice occurred in September 2010.

Understanding climate change - key fact 4: By 2100, ocean acidity could be higher than during the past 20 million years.

Understanding climate change - key fact 3: The decade 2000-2009 was the warmest on record. Europe has warmed more than the global average.

Understanding climate change - key fact 2: By 2100, the concentration of 'Kyoto gases' is projected to increase to 638-1360 ppm CO2-equivalent.

Understanding climate change - key fact 1: The concentration of 'Kyoto gases' reached 438 ppm CO2-equivalent in 2008.

Land use — SOER 2010 thematic assessment: Land use shapes our environment in positive and negative ways. Productive land is a critical resource for food and biomass production and land use strongly influences soil erosion and soil functions such as carbon storage. Land management largely determines the beauty of Europe's landscapes. It is important therefore to monitor land cover and land-use change through tools such as Corine land cover. Data on land-cover change in Europe from 2000–2006 show that growth in built-up areas and forest land leads to a continued loss of agricultural land. In turn, global economic and environmental change will increasingly influence the way Europeans use land (e.g. as communities work to mitigate and adapt to climate change). Policy responses are needed to help resolve conflicting land-use demands and to guide land-use intensity to support environmental land management.

Biodiversity — SOER 2010 thematic assessment: Biodiversity — the variety of ecosystems, species and genes — is essential to human wellbeing, delivering services that sustain our economies and societies. Its huge importance makes biodiversity loss all the more troubling. European species are threatened with extinction and overexploitation. Natural habitats continue to be lost and fragmented, and degraded by pollution and climate change. Despite actions taken and progress made, these threats continue to impact biodiversity in Europe. The new global and EU targets to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2020 are ambitious but achieving them will require better policy implementation, coordination across sectors, ecosystem management approaches and a wider understanding of biodiversity's value.

Adapting to climate change - SOER 2010 thematic assessment: Climate change is happening and will continue to have far-reaching consequences for human and natural systems. Impacts and vulnerabilities differ considerably across regions, territories and economic sectors in Europe. Strategies to adapt to climate change are necessary to manage impacts even if global temperature stays below a 2 °C increase above the pre-industrial level. The EU adaptation framework aims at developing a comprehensive strategy by 2013, to be supported by a clearinghouse for sharing and maintaining information on climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation.

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