Publication

Plastics are essential in society. Yet value chains are unsustainable — generating emissions and increasing waste and pollution. Reducing such impacts demands moving towards a circular and sustainable plastics system. This briefing covers plastics production and consumption in Europe, the impacts on the environment and climate change, and how we can shift to a circular economy for plastics. Work from the Circularity Metrics Lab on plastics (EEA, 2024a) and a report on the Circularity Metrics Lab for Plastics from the European Topic Centre on Circular Economy and Resource Use inform this briefing.

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To become sustainable, Europe must change some of the ways people live, work, produce and consume. Using policy to achieve such complex and large-scale transformations is not easy. This briefing explores how to future-proof sustainability policies and avoid blind spots through a foresight-based framework, which includes several participatory exercises involving a multidisciplinary group of experts. Assessing future risks and their potential impacts can identify mitigation measures and safeguard strategies to encourage the transition to sustainability and feed future policy.

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Air pollution is Europe’s largest environmental health risk, causing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases that impact health, reduce quality of life and cause preventable deaths. This briefing presents the status of regulated pollutants in ambient air in 2022 and 2023 in relation to current EU air quality standards and World Health Organization (WHO) guideline levels.

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From the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, most of Europe’s bathing waters are of excellent quality for swimming when assessed against the two specific health relevant parameters (Escherichia coli – or E. coli – and intestinal enterococci) as required under the Bathing Water Directive (EU, 2006). This briefing provides information on the quality of Europe’s bathing waters, and is complemented by a map viewer to help citizens take informed decisions on where to bathe. The briefing is published in the context of the Zero pollution action plan and is based on analysis of data reported by EU Members States for the 2020-2023 bathing seasons.

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Antimicrobials are an essential tool to prevent or treat disease in humans and animals. In food systems, they help to ensure the health and welfare of animals raised for food. However, their use can also lead to environmental pollution and potentially affect human health, including by contributing to the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This briefing summarises the latest knowledge on how antimicrobials used in food-producing animals may impact the health of humans, animals and ecosystems, and reviews progress in reducing their use in Europe’s food system.

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