Thematic briefings: progress and prospects on environment- and climate-related topics

Each briefing consists of a set of key messages and four assessments: past trends, outlook, prospects of meeting EU policy targets for 2030, and prospects of meeting EU policy targets for 2050. Each briefing also provides an assessment of the robustness of the knowledge underpinning the assessments and highlights key related EEA publications for in-depth exploration. The thematic briefings serve as input to the main report of Europe’ environment 2025, Europe’s environment and climate: knowledge for resilience, prosperity and sustainability.

Browse thematic briefings

The assessment of past trends typically covers the last 10-15 years but dates back to 1990 in exceptional cases. The assessment of outlooks considers what trends are expected in the next 10 to 15 years. For the two assessments of the prospects of meeting targets and/or objectives in relevant EU policies (2030 and 2050), multiple targets within relevant thematic areas have been clustered under a single assessment.

All four assessments are qualitative and combine both quantitative indicators and qualitative information – or modelled estimates of future developments for the outlooks and prospects (where available) – with expert consideration of the likely effects of policies currently in place. The assignment of a colour to indicate the direction of trends is therefore qualitative, rather than based on a statistical method.

The difference between the outlook and the prospects of meeting the policy targets is the scope and time horizon. The outlook is broader and considers various factors expected to shape the topic in the future (such as societal, technological or economic developments), while the policy target assessments only focus on the scope and likelihood of reaching specific EU policy targets or objectives.