This briefing describes the progress made by the EU and its 27 Member States towards reducing emissions of the five main air pollutants regulated under the National Emission reduction Commitments Directive.
This document is the annual EU emission inventory report under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (Air Convention) (UNECE, 1979). The report and its accompanying data constitute the official submission to the UNECE secretariat from the European Commission (EC) on behalf of the EU as a Party to the UNECE Executive Secretary (Box ES.1). The EEA compiled the report in cooperation with the EU Member States and the EC.
Buildings are important in EU environmental and climate policy for several reasons, including their greenhouse gas emissions and high consumption of material resources. Improved design and building techniques will produce highly efficient new buildings but more than 85% of today’s buildings are likely to still be in use in 2050.
Sewage treatment is an essential service that can deliver clean water, nutrients and organic fertiliser. It can and should contribute to delivering the broad goals of the Green Deal, with a key role in supporting the ambition to achieve zero pollution.
Despite efforts to adapt to climate change in Europe, the most vulnerable groups in society are still the most affected. Projected climate change, an ageing society and persisting socio-economic inequalities mean that differences in vulnerability and exposure to climate change are likely to continue.
The European Environment Information and Observation Network (Eionet) is a partnership network of the EEA and its member and cooperating countries. This briefing presents the results of data collected in 2021 for 11 Eionet core data flows.
Cancer affects the lives of many Europeans. Environmental and occupational exposure to air pollution, radon, UV radiation, chemical carcinogens, asbestos and other risks contributes significantly to the high burden of cancer in Europe.
The EEA's annual work programme 2021, which is structured around the Agency's four strategic areas (SAs) as set out in the Agency's multiannual work programme 2014-2021, established the framework for 2021.
The CAAR is the EEA’s annual report, providing detailed information on the year’s activities, performance and achievements, as well as operational, budgetary and management reporting.
Bathing is an extremely popular and important leisure activity in Europe. This annual assessment of European bathing sites shows how well environmental protection measures are implemented, allowing people to make informed decisions on where to bathe without health risks at 21 551 officially identified bathing sites in the EU as well as 119 in Albania and 189 in Switzerland.
Decarbonising road transport — the role of
vehicles, fuels and transport demand
Annual European Union greenhouse gas
inventory 1990–2020 and inventory report 2022
Submission to the UNFCCC Secretariat
Influencing consumer choices towards circularity
The long-standing cooperation between the European
Environment Agency (EEA) and the United Nations Environment
Programme / Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP)
has delivered successive harvests of knowledge products,
such as the EEA-UNEP/MAP report titled Towards a cleaner
Mediterranean: a decade of progress — Monitoring Horizon 2020
regional initiative, and several joint activities driving forward the
collective endeavour for a healthy Mediterranean Sea and coast
in the context of sustainable development.
It is now widely understood that achieving a sustainable Europe will require far-reaching societal change, engaging all areas of the economy and society. The European Green Deal identifies the need for ‘deeply transformative’ policies and actions in the coming decades to put the EU onto a sustainable path. Like the EEA’s 5-yearly report, SOER 2020, it highlights the need to fundamentally transform the production-consumption systems that meet Europe’s demand for energy, food, mobility and shelter. Yet there is also a growing recognition that achieving the EU’s vision of ‘living well, within environmental limits’ will require a deeper transformation of the socio-economic system.
This report analyses data from the Urban Atlas of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service. It focuses on land use changes (land take, soil sealing) and socio‑economic trends in 662 functional urban areas — cities and their commuting zones — in the EU and the UK.
Carbon stocks and sequestration rates in marine and terrestrial ecosystems: a lever for nature restoration
Municipal waste, if not managed properly, is a source of pollution. However, it also contains valuable materials that can be recycled. As in the EU, in the Western Balkan countries municipal waste has been the target of waste policies for several years, mainly aimed at improving waste management. This briefing reviews current waste issues across the region, key initiatives being implemented, and remaining obstacles to preventing municipal waste generation and to its appropriate management.
Municipal waste accounts for 27 % of the total waste generated in the EU (excluding mineral waste). Due to its complex composition and ubiquity, it can have significant negative impacts on human health and on the environment if not managed properly. The 2020 EU Circular Economy Action Plan has established an objective of halving the quantity of municipal waste that is not recycled or prepared for reuse by 2030. At the same time, all EU member states will have to recycle or prepare for reuse at least 60% of generated municipal waste by 2030. This briefing explores how these two targets are linked and how more ambitious waste prevention actions will be key for achieving them simultaneously.
Air pollution is the single largest environmental health risk in Europe, causing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases that lead to the loss of healthy years of life and, in the most serious cases, to premature deaths. This briefing presents the status of concentrations of pollutants in ambient air in 2020 and 2021 by pollutant, in relation to both EU air quality standards and WHO guidelines. The assessment shows that exceedances of standards are common across the EU, with concentrations well above the latest WHO recommendations. Nevertheless, in 2020, lockdown measures adopted to minimize the spread of the COVID-19 impacted on emissions of air pollution from road transport and lead to improved air quality.
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