Publication

The EU adaptation strategy aims to build resilience and ensure that Europe is well prepared to manage the risks and adapt to the impacts of climate change, including limiting economic losses and other harms. Europe is facing economic losses and fatalities from weather and climate extremes every year and in all regions of Europe. The data on losses and fatalities is not yet collected or reported in sufficient quality across the EU Member States to support policy decisions, however some private companies collect these data. EEA has access to 2 of these private sources with data for 1980-2020: NatCatSERVICE from Munich Re (since 2012) and CATDAT from Risklayer (since 2021).

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Air quality remains a persistent problem in Europe, continuing to harm health and ecosystems. This briefing reviews the status of air quality plans put in place by countries in situations where air pollution limits are exceeded. It also identifies the sources of air pollutants that lie behind such exceedances. The assessment covers 21 Member States of the European Union , as well as Norway and the United Kingdom . The European level assessment is complemented by case studies providing examples of measures that have led to an improvement in air quality in six European cities.

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Parks, urban forests, tree-lined streets and riverbanks support urban well-being by providing space for rest, relaxation and exercise and keeping temperatures down. But not everyone across Europe enjoys equal access to green spaces in cities. This briefing reviews the evidence of socio-economic and demographic inequalities in access to the health benefits derived from urban green and blue spaces across Europe. It showcases examples where green spaces have been designed to meet the needs of vulnerable and disadvantaged social groups.

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This briefing discusses the role of environmental taxes through two lenses. The first, by analysing past and current trends for such taxes in terms of their revenue raising performance as well as their foundation for any reform programme that shifts taxes from labour and capital to resource use and environmental pollution. The second by analysing prospects for energy tax revenues in the coming decades, their role as a component of EU decarbonisation policy towards a climate-neutral Union by 2050, and the implications for future tax shifting programmes.

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The existing European Union’s (EU) monitoring framework for circular economy was established to track how the EU is transitioning to a more circular economy. To avoid unnecessary added costs and quickly establishing the EU’s monitoring framework, it has been predominantly based on existing data and covers essential elements of the transition. To complement this macro-view on how circular economy progresses in Europe, the European Environment Agency is exploring opportunities to collect new types of data generated for other purposes and, working with other partners, use them to better understand this transformation of Europe’s economy. This briefing provides an overview of four different data types used to prototype new indicators covering different circular economy processes not covered well by data today.

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