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The EUCRA report builds on and complements the existing knowledge base on climate impacts and risks for Europe, including recent reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Copernicus Climate Change Service and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, as well as outcomes of EU-funded research and development projects and national climate risk assessments. The knowledge in this first-of-its-kind assessment is synthesised with the aim to support strategic policymaking.
Waste and circular economy actions contribute to reducing the need for new primary materials and the associated greenhouse gas emissions linked to the extraction and processing of resources. Including circular economy and waste activities in the reporting on climate change mitigation policies and measures can help provide a fuller account of a country’s mitigation efforts. This approach can further reveal policy opportunities to unlock additional emission reductions and help countries reach their net-zero targets.
Revised SPD 2024-2026 adopted by EEA’s Management Board by written procedure on 24 January 2024
Monitoring report on progress towards the 8th EAP objectives 2023 edition
This report looks at how biomass can help us reach our climate and environmental objectives, and how climate change might affect the EU's biomass production in agriculture and forest sectors. It also discusses key synergies and trade-offs in the use of biomass for different policy objectives.
This report explores the historical trends, most recent progress and projected future progress on climate change mitigation through reduced GHG emissions, renewable energy gains and improved energy efficiency. It builds upon data reported by the EU-27 Member States, five EEA member countries and nine Contracting Parties of the Energy Community.
In March 2023, EU Member States were mandated for the second time to report their national adaptation actions under the Regulation on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action. For the first time they also reported on adaptation aspects in the progress reporting of their national energy and climate plans. Non-EU EEA member countries were invited to provide similar information on a voluntary basis. This briefing presents the current status of national adaptation actions across Europe, with an emphasis on recent developments and lessons learned since the reporting in 2021.
Public participation in environmental decision-making is a legal right in Europe. This principle was established two decades ago by the Aarhus Convention. Since then, it has been increasingly recognised that participation is not only a matter of justice and democracy but also a practical necessity for transitioning into sustainability. This briefing focuses on different forms of public participation from a sustainability transitions perspective, highlights its core tenets, principles and pitfalls.
The EEA′s annual environmental statement report for 2022 conforms to requirements stipulated in the EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) Regulation and takes into account the sectoral reference document for the public administration sector. The report contains information on the EEA′s environmental management system (EMS), its environmental performance in the year 2022, and the updated environmental targets and an action plan for 2023.
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 2022 for 13 Eionet core data flows. It summarises the evaluation of hundreds of data deliveries received from reporting countries. The purpose of the briefing is to show progress against agreed reporting criteria (timeliness and data quality), allowing 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.
Several EEA assessments make the link between environment and well-being very clear. Despite progress over the past decades, pollution and other environmental risks continue to harm people’s health in Europe while improving the state of our environment and mitigating climate change can deliver both direct and indirect benefits for everyone in Europe.
Europe and the world face unprecedented sustainability challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, resource depletion and pollution. These challenges are largely caused by unsustainable consumption as countries strive for economic growth and people pursue well-being. Household consumption pressures and impacts the environment and drive climate change.
Digitalisation plays an ever-increasing role in our mobility, shaping the way the system and our society evolve. To fully realise the potential that technology could bring, it will be fundamental to let environmental considerations guide this transformation. This way, we will come closer to achieving a sustainable and just transition.
Submission under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
The EU has met its target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020, compared with 1990 levels. However, meeting targets for 2030 and beyond requires a doubling of the annual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions achieved between 2005 and 2020. Heating and cooling account for half of the final EU energy use. With energy used for heating being significant, decarbonising heating is therefore critical. Solutions to save energy and introduce efficient, renewable heating and cooling systems exist and must be rolled out faster. This briefing looks at heating and cooling trends across the EU. It highlights the twin benefits — for climate mitigation and security of supply — of combining energy efficiency and conservation measures with rapidly switching to renewable and waste energy use in heating and cooling.
Advancing towards climate resilience in Europe: status of reported national adaptation actions in 2021
This briefing provides an overview of the key sources of methane (CH4) in the EU and the trends in and drivers of emissions since 1990. It looks at projections, policies and measures implemented, and relevant EU legislation in force and forthcoming. It also describes the main EU and international policy processes for reducing CH4 emissions, which contribute to achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement and climate neutrality. The EEA has developed a ‘methane emissions’ visualisation tool to underpin the briefing, where users can see countries’ CH4 emissions as reported in their greenhouse gas inventories.
Across Europe, rising temperatures, combined with an ageing population and urbanisation, mean that the population is becoming more vulnerable to heat and that demand for cooling in buildings is rising rapidly. Buildings, as long-lasting structures, can offer protection from heatwaves and high temperatures if appropriately designed, constructed, renovated and maintained. The summer of 2022, with its successive long heatwaves and high energy prices, may have raised the sense of urgency given to the alleviation of heat stress. But there is a gap in knowledge on the extent of overheating in buildings and data and information is scarce regarding the share of EU citizens unable to keep their homes comfortably cool during the summer. This briefing examines key elements of sustainable cooling policy, and its potential impacts on vulnerable groups, by reducing health risks, inequalities and summer energy poverty.
This report explores the historical trends, most recent progress and projected future paths towards mitigating climate change through reduced greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy gains and improved energy efficiency. It builds on data reported by the 27 EU Member States (EU-27), Iceland and Norway.
Soils play an important role in the fight against climate change. Soil management affects the biological processes that lead to soils losing or gaining carbon. It is therefore important that information on the status of and trends in soil carbon is readily available to inform policymaking. This briefing presents the information on soil carbon that can be extracted from the 2021 national greenhouse gas inventories, as reported by EU Member States for the year 2019. It also gives an overview on the status of soil carbon pools across Europe.
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/climate/publications/publications_topic or scan the QR code.
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