The European Environment Agency (EEA) publishes Signals annually, providing a snapshot of issues of interest to the environmental debate and the wider public. Signals 2017 focuses on energy.
This document is the annual European Union (EU)
emission inventory report under the United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention
on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP)
(UNECE, 1979). The report and its accompanying data
constitute the official submission by the European
Commission on behalf of the EU as a Party to
the Executive Secretary of UNECE.
This briefing presents the results of data collected in 2016 for 10 Eionet core data flows. It summarises the evaluation of close to 1 000 data deliveries received from reporting countries. The purpose of the briefing is to show progress against agreed reporting criteria (timeliness and data quality) in order to allow countries to identify and prioritise the resources they need for regular reporting procedures. The provision of high-quality data by Eionet is fundamental for the EEA to achieve its mission to provide timely, targeted, relevant and reliable information to policy-making agents and the public.
The European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) ensures public access to information on pollutant releases to the environment from Europe’s largest industrial facilities. This briefing, based upon recently updated E-PRTR data, provides details of Europe’s largest emitting facilities for selected key pollutants in 2015. A more detailed assessment of the large combustion plants (LCP) sector also highlights the ongoing shift away from certain fossil fuels in the sector over the past decade, as well as improvements made to the sector’s environmental performance.
The orderly transition to the low carbon, climate-resilient economy that Europe is aiming for is also an investment challenge that depends on a substantial redirection of finance flows towards more sustainable investments. Meeting this challenge and harvesting the associated opportunities requires an improved knowledge base in terms of clear investment information at EU and national levels. Assessing the state-of-play of climate finance tracking in Europe, a recent European Environment Agency (EEA) study indicates that few European countries have translated their national climate and energy objectives into corresponding investment needs and plans.
European Union (EU) water policies encourage Member States to implement better water demand management practices. This is a response to the pressures on water resources that are continuously increasing. Management practices on water demand are being revised to improve the existing supply-demand balance and ultimately to bring about a more water-efficient society.
Air pollution is the single largest environmental health risk in Europe, and can cause respiratory problems and shorten lifespans. It also contributes to the acidification of soil and surface water, causes eutrophication in sensitive habitats and can damage vegetation through exposure to ozone.
This document describes the work carried out by the EEA in 2016.
This European Environment Agency (EEA) report
contributes to the growing international discourse on
the Arctic region. It is both timely and important, since
it examines the increasingly rapid changes that are
taking place in the Arctic from a European perspective.
It considers the national, regional and global challenges
and opportunities that are emerging as a result
This report explores the circular economy from a product perspective, applying a systemic approach and transition theory. Drivers of product design and usage are discussed in the context of emerging consumption trends and business models. For governance to be effective, it has to address the product life-cycle and the societal context determining it. Indicators and assessment tools are proposed that can help fill the current data and knowledge gaps.
This briefing summarises the main findings of the EU’s 2017 greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory submission under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and of the EEA’s analysis of GHG emission trends in the EU between 1990 and 2015. It is underpinned by a more in-depth EEA report analysing the major factors behind changes in GHG emissions in the EU: Analysis of key trends and drivers in greenhouse gas emissions in the EU between 1990 and 2015.
This briefing provides an overview of the key types of greenhouse (GHG) emission estimates that are regularly published by bodies of the European Union (EU)
Submission to the UNFCCC Secretariat
The report analyses the major factors underpinning the trends in greenhouse gas emissions in Europe, both in the last year and over the period since 1990. The data is based on the EU’s 2017 submission to the UNFCCC of its greenhouse gas inventory.
Every summer, European holiday resorts fill up with tourists eager to enjoy the warmer weather and the beautiful natural surroundings of this diverse continent. For many, the summer vacation is synonymous with swimming in the sea or in a lake, so it is natural that water quality is an important factor in choosing a destination. To help citizens make informed choices, the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European Commission publish the annual European bathing water quality report. The information contained in this edition - which covers bathing water quality in 2016 in the EU Member States, Albania and Switzerland - indicates where good quality bathing water is likely to be found in 2017.
The EUNIS habitat classification is a pan-European, comprehensive and widely accepted classification of all habitat types. The increasing need to support European policy on nature conservation with harmonised habitat descriptions, condition estimates and change assessments underpinned by field data led to the initiation of an extensive review of the classification.
This briefing gives an overview of the EUNIS habitat classification and revision process of its terrestrial part through alignment with the European Vegetation units. The focus is on heathland, scrub and tundra habitat types.
Analysis of national responses under Article 21 of the EU ETS Directive
The objective of this paper is to give a snapshot of the key GHG emission estimates which are regularly published by EU bodies.
There is a light update of the paper every year in May as a joint effort of the four institutions involved: DG Climate Action of the European Commission (DG CLIMA), the Joint Research Centre (DG JRC), Eurostat (Eurostat), and the European Environment Agency (EEA) – who coordinates the final product.
Noise pollution poses a high risk to human health. This briefing presents updated estimates of the numbers of people exposed to environmental noise pollution in Europe. It also provides a new summary of the measures being used in Member States to manage noise. Road traffic remains by far the most important source of environmental noise: at least 100 million people are exposed to levels of traffic noise that exceed the European Union’s indicator of noise annoyance.
Addressing climate change requires a globally
coordinated, long-term response across all economic
sectors. The 2015 Paris Agreement provides the
framework for limiting global warming to less than
2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and for
pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Early
in this process, the European Union has adopted
ambitious and binding climate and energy targets
for 2020 and 2030. Member States have set the
strategic objective of building an Energy Union, which
aims to provide affordable, secure and sustainable
energy (European Council, 2014) and which has a
forward‑looking climate policy at its core (European
Council, 2015).
The most recent package of legislative measures,
adopted by the European Commission in November
2016, aims to consolidate and match national climate
and energy efforts, and facilitate the delivery of
the 2030 targets for climate, energy efficiency and
renewable energy sources (RES).
This report provides information about progress in RES
in 2014 at the EU, country, energy market sector and
RES technology levels.
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