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How is Europe fighting against climate change?

Page Last modified 29 Mar 2022
3 min read
To prevent the worst impacts of climate change, European countries have developed national strategies, policies and accompanying measures to mitigate climate change. These include for example targets for greenhouse gas emissions in key sectors of the economy, promoting the use of renewable energy and low carbon fuels or efficiency improvements of buildings.

Key messages


  • The number of national policies and measures, reported by Member States to reduce GHG, increased by 11 % between 2019 and 2021. Most of the new reported policies and measures are at the planning stage.
  • Most climate change mitigation measures reported in 2021 are economic instruments (e.g., subsidies or feed-in tariffs) or regulations (e.g., energy efficiency standards), primary targeting energy-related GHG emissions.
  • The information reported on national policies and measures is becoming better and more complete, in particular on the GHG emission savings expected from these measures (ex ante). However, quantitative information on the emission savings actually achieved by implemented measures (ex post) remains insufficiently reported.

 

 

Explore our data on policies and measures

The European countries have reported altogether more than 2 200 policies and measures that focus on reducing or preventing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from various sectors, including the energy and transport sectors, agriculture, industrial processes, forestry and waste management.

 

The number of national policies and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions increased by 11 % between 2019 and 2021

  

According to the EEA's recent analysis, current policies and measures are expected to deliver a 34 % reduction in GHG emissions by 2030 compared to 1990, while implementing all reported planned (additional) policies could the total net reduction to 41 %. Despite this good progress, further effort will be needed by the EU and its Member States to meet the 55 % net GHG reduction target by 2030.

 

Total number of existing and planned policies and measures reported by the EU27 in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021, and individual countries in 2021

 

Note: *non-EU countries

Source: Reportnet uploads for obligation "National greenhouse gas policies and measures" provided by the European Topic Centre on Climate Change Mitigation and Energy (ETC/CME), 2021.

Consult the latest ETC/CME report: 'Overview of reported national greenhouse gas policies and measures in Europe in 2021' for a complete analysis on national efforts to reduce GHG emissions.


Find out more on:

The EEA's contribution

The European Environment Agency, together with its ETC/CME, collects and checks information sent by European countries on their national policies and measures. The EEA makes this information available via:

Supporting policy evaluation

Information reported by European countries on their climate policies is used to monitor climate action at a national level. It can also serve to assess and evaluate existing policies and to help inform decisions about new policies.

The briefing 'Using Member States’ information on policies and measures to support policymaking: energy efficiency in buildings’ illustrates how databases on policies and measures can support policy evaluation by presenting the results of two case studies analysing policies and measures targeting energy efficiency in buildings.

The ETC/CME report ‘Agricultural climate mitigation policies and measures. Good practice, challenges, and future perspectives’ explores which agricultural greenhouse gas mitigation policies and measures are implemented and planned by countries, why they have not effectively reduced overall emissions in recent years, and what further action is needed to help meet EU emissions targets.

A good starting point to evaluate a policy is to look how others evaluated similar interventions, what are the most common elements, approaches or methodologies. Find nearly 600 evaluations in the field of environment and climate policies across Europe in our catalogue.

Open and accessible data on public policies evaluations enable decision makers to get valuable information not only for the design of evaluation projects, but also to get inspiring feedbacks from their peers to support public policy making. The EEA catalogue of European environment and climate policy evaluations offer a knowledge-sharing platform to them. It is a useful tool to get an overview of the methodologies and approaches to the policy evaluations. And finally, the catalogue shows which areas are best covered by policies, since a lack of evaluation might indicate lack of policy action.

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Briefing EU renewable electricity has reduced environmental pressures; targeted actions help further reduce impacts We need to invest in a green recovery to restart the economy. The European Green Deal puts climate change mitigation at the core of its efforts to recover sustainably from the COVID-19 crisis. Renewable electricity could increase to 70 % of all power generation by 2030 to allow a net 55 % reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by that year and climate neutrality to be reached by 2050. Despite multiple benefits for human health and the environment associated with the reduction in fossil fuel use for energy, increasing renewable power supply is not impact free. Concerns have been raised that renewable electricity could shift environmental burdens in ways that do not always lower overall pressures. This briefing investigates changes in the electricity mix since 2005, and their trade-offs from a life cycle perspective to help policymakers and individuals focus on areas that offer opportunities for improvement.
Briefing National action across all sectors needed to reach greenhouse gas Effort Sharing targets EU legislation on Effort Sharing covers emissions from a wide range of sectors, such as road transport, heating and cooling in residential and commercial buildings, agriculture and small industries. These sectors have significantly different emission drivers and reduction potentials. Reducing these emissions to meet national Effort Sharing targets requires a diversified and well-adapted policy mix at the national level. Having reported a large number of planned policies and measures under the Monitoring Mechanism Regulation in March 2019, EU Member States and the United Kingdom must now fully implement them to allow the EU to deliver on its decarbonisation objectives. This briefing provides an updated overview of sectoral trends, projections of greenhouse gas emissions, and planned policies and measures in the EU Effort Sharing sectors.
Briefing More national climate policies expected, but how effective are the existing ones? In 2019, EU Member States reported that they had already adopted or were planning to adopt 1925 national policies and corresponding measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve climate targets. Many of these measures also help achieve energy efficiency and renewable energy targets. While climate action is clearly taking place across Europe, EU Member States still provide insufficient evidence of the effectiveness and costs of their policies. This briefing presents an overview of the information on national policies and measures for climate change mitigation, reported in 2019 by Member States to the European Environment Agency (EEA) under the EU Monitoring Mechanism Regulation.
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Briefing Tracking climate policies in European Union countries Information reported to the European Environment Agency (EEA) shows that more than 1 500 national policies and measures have either been adopted, implemented or are being planned in the European Union (EU) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and achieve climate change and energy targets. However, quantitative evidence on the effectiveness and costs of these measures remains insufficiently reported. This briefing presents an overview of the main characteristics of these policies and measures, such as their status, main objectives, type and estimated effects. This information is also made available online by the EEA.

Related data

Data Climate change mitigation policies and measures (greenhouse gas emissions) This database contains a number of climate change mitigation policies and measures (PaM) implemented or planned by European countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Most of these PaMs have been reported to the European Commission, the United Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) or the EEA.
Data Member States' greenhouse gas (GHG) emission projections The Monitoring Mechanism Regulation ((EC) No 525/2013) requires Member States to report national projections of anthropogenic GHG emissions. Every two years, each EU Member State shall report GHG projections in a ‘with existing measures’ scenario for the years 2020, 2025, 2030 and 2035, by gas (or group of gases) and by sector. National projections shall take into consideration any policies and measures adopted at Union level. The reported data are quality checked by the EEA and its European Topic Centre for Climate Change Mitigation and Energy (ETC/CME).

Related publications

Publication Tracking climate policies in European Union countries Information reported to the European Environment Agency (EEA) shows that more than 1 500 national policies and measures have either been adopted, implemented or are being planned in the European Union (EU) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and achieve climate change and energy targets. However, quantitative evidence on the effectiveness and costs of these measures remains insufficiently reported. This briefing presents an overview of the main characteristics of these policies and measures, such as their status, main objectives, type and estimated effects. This information is also made available online by the EEA.
Publication Using Member States information on policies and measures to support policymaking: energy efficiency in buildings In line with EU legislation, Member States report information on their policies and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This information is used to monitor climate action at a national level. It is also important for supporting policy evaluation and informing policy decisions. This briefing presents the results of two case studies analysing policies and measures targeting energy efficiency in buildings.
Publication National policies and measures on climate change mitigation in Europe in 2017 Technical overview of the information reported by Member States under the European Union's climate Monitoring Mechanism Regulation. The 2018 edition of the European Environment Agency (EEA) report National policies and measures on climate mitigation in Europe presents an overview of the information on 1 513 national policies and measures (PaMs) on climate change mitigation reported in 2017 by Member States under the European Union (EU)'s climate Monitoring Mechanism Regulation (MMR). It also takes stock of the progress made at national level to plan, adopt and implement new policies since the 2015 reporting exercise.
Publication Environment and climate policy evaluation The intended audience of this European Environment Agency (EEA) publication is the professional environmental evaluation community, that is, evaluators of European environment and climate policies, the EEA's networks and interested evaluation professionals, including those that are active in the European Environmental Evaluators Network (EEEN). The publication aims to facilitate a dialogue on policy evaluation, by clearly setting out the EEA's views on some of the challenges that evaluators encounter in the areas of environment and climate policy.
Publication Overview of reported national policies and measures on climate change mitigation in Europe in 2015 Information reported by Member States under the European Union Monitoring Mechanism Regulation. The report presents a synthesis of the information on climate change mitigation policies and measures (PaMs) reported in 2015 by EU Member States. It aims to provide an overview of the main characteristics of the PaMs implemented, adopted or planned by Member States, such as their objective, type, targeted sectors, entities responsible for their implementation, etc.

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For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/climate/national-policies-and-measures/policies-and-measures or scan the QR code.

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