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Europe's circular economy still in its infancy

Circular material use can minimise waste and resource extraction, improve resource efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and contribute to conserving biodiversity. However, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) report, published today, circular economy initiatives in Europe are still at an early stage and would benefit from more investments in upscaling promising innovations and in monitoring progress towards circularity.

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Protecting Europe's land and soil resources is fundamental for a sustainable future

Land and soil underpin life on our planet. The way we currently use these vital and finite resources in Europe is not sustainable. Human activities — growing cities and infrastructure networks, intensive agriculture, pollutants and greenhouse gases released to the environment — transform Europe’s landscapes and exert increasing pressure on land and soil. The European Environment Agency’s (EEA) Signals 2019, published today, looks at a series of issues linked to land and soil, including links to climate change, agriculture, soil biodiversity, contamination and governance, and stresses why we need to manage them sustainably.

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Gap between real-world and type-approval emissions undermines incentives for cleaner cars

Incentives to promote fuel-efficient cars have not always resulted in expected emission reductions, due to the growing gap between real-world and type approval emissions. However, according to a new European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing, incentives that boost the uptake of electric vehicles considerably reduce greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions.

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Collecting litter and data to combat plastic pollution

More and more communities around the world are working against marine litter and plastic pollution. A Danish initiative mobilises schoolchildren to collect plastic waste and research data that will become part of the European Environment Agency’s (EEA) database on marine litter. Better data on plastic pollution helps inform policies and tackle the problem.

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EU on track to end use of chemicals harming the ozone layer

The European Union (EU) has achieved its goals to phase out ozone-depleting substances under the Montreal Protocol. A new European Environment Agency (EEA) report shows that in 2018 the EU again destroyed or exported more ozone-depleting substances than it produced or imported.

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How to accelerate change towards sustainability?

There is growing recognition that achieving prosperity within environmental limits requires fundamental changes in core systems of production and consumption. A new European Environment Agency (EEA) report, published today, identifies ten focus areas for enabling sustainability transitions.

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Climate change threatens future of farming in Europe

Crop and livestock production is projected to decrease and may even have to be abandoned in parts of Europe’s southern and Mediterranean regions due to the increased negative impacts of climate change, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) report published today. The study says that adapting to climate change must be made a top priority for the European Union’s agriculture sector if it is to improve resilience to extreme events like droughts, heatwaves and floods.

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EU Member States make only mixed progress in reducing emissions under UN convention, latest air pollution data shows

European Union (EU) Member States have made only mixed progress in reducing emissions of the most harmful air pollutants, according to updated data published today by the European Environment Agency (EEA). The data is from the annual EU emission inventory report sent to the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP).

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European pollutant register an important tool for EU in tackling industrial emissions

A decade after its launch, the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) continues to prove its value. The online register is a widely recognised tool, used to assess pollution trends and evaluate the effectiveness of EU legislation in various areas, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) assessment published today.

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Ammonia emissions from agriculture continue to pose problems for Europe

While emissions of most air pollutants remain on a downward trend across the European Union, emissions of ammonia from the agricultural sector continue to rise, posing a challenge for EU Member States in meeting EU air pollution limits, according to updated data released by the European Environment Agency (EEA) today.

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