The next 50 years

Page Last modified 13 Apr 2011

Major environmental challenges remain. The unsustainable development of some key economic sectors is still the major barrier to further improvements.

We face increasing urbanisation and land abandonment.
Climate change is already here.
Progress on energy demand management is slow.
We are healthier, but exposure to pollutants remains.
We are depleting our natural resources.
We are losing biodiversity at an alarming rate.
We are increasingly exporting our environmental impacts to other continents.

Technology still has a vast potential to reduce environmental impacts. European policy-makers are however coming to realise that widespread behavioural changes are required in order to move towards a sustainable society.

If we want to seriously address Europe’s sustainability, we need a long view, far beyond two or three legislative cycles. Climate change, globalisation and demographic change are just a few factors that will profoundly change the context of policy-making in the future.

We need to take the possibility of different outcomes into account when making strategic decisions.