Press releases

Construction, use and demolition of buildings causes major environment and climate pressures but smart renovations that focus on efficient use of energy and resources can help Europe increase the sustainability of its housing sector, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) report published today.

Reducing the use of PFAS — known as forever chemicals — in clothing, furniture and other textile products, is important to increase recyclability and the transition to a more circular economy according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing, published today.

Today, 16 September, is World Ozone Day to mark the Montreal Protocol to phase out environmentally harmful ozone-depleting substances (ODS). The consumption of ODS covered by the Montreal Protocol has declined in the EU and worldwide by about 99% from 1986 to 2023. The remaining 1% reflects some industrial processes, firefighting, laboratory and analytical uses where alternatives are not yet widely available.

Published today, European Environment Agency’s (EEA) updated European city air quality viewer shows that people in Uppsala and Umeå, Sweden, and Faro, Portugal, can enjoy the cleanest city air in Europe. Three out of four Europeans live in urban areas and most of them are exposed to unsafe levels of air pollution. Improving air quality to levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) could significantly reduce premature deaths caused by air pollution.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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'.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

Air pollution from large European industry continues to cause significant damage to the environment, climate and people’s health. However, according to an updated analysis by the European Environment Agency (EEA) , the cost of this pollution has declined by about a third during the past decade. Published today, the analysis shows that just a small fraction of the most polluting facilities — many of them coal power plants — causes half of the total damage.