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Environmental topics

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Page Last modified 03 Jul 2018
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Find all EEA products and information by browsing environmental topics.

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Environmental issues

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Environment in different regions and specific areas

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Transport Transport accounts for around a third of all final energy consumption in the EEA member countries and for more than a fifth of greenhouse gas emissions. It is also responsible for a large share of urban air pollution as well as noise nuisance. Furthermore, transport has a serious impact on the landscape because it divides natural areas into small patches with serious consequences for animals and plants.
Land use Europe is one of the most intensively used continents on the globe, with the highest share of land used for settlement, production systems and infrastructure. Land is a finite resource: how it is used constitutes one of the principal reasons for environmental change, with significant impacts on quality of life and ecosystems, as well as on the management of infrastructure.
Air pollution Air pollution harms human health and the environment. In Europe, emissions of many air pollutants have decreased substantially over the past decades, resulting in improved air quality across the region. However, air pollutant concentrations are still too high, and air quality problems persist. A significant proportion of Europe’s population live in areas, especially cities, where exceedances of air quality standards occur.
Biodiversity — Ecosystems Biodiversity is the name given to the variety of ecosystems (natural capital), species and genes in the world or in a particular habitat. It is essential to human wellbeing, as it delivers services that sustain our economies and societies. Biodiversity is also crucial to ecosystem services — the services that nature supplies — such as pollination, climate regulation, flood protection, soil fertility and the production of food, fuel, fibre and medicines.
Agriculture The agricultural sector is one of the main land users in Europe and thus shapes landscapes in rural areas. It has various direct and indirect impacts on the environment and is itself dependent on natural resources.
Industry The environmental performance of European industry has improved over the past decades. Changes have occurred for a number of reasons: stricter environmental regulation, improvements in energy efficiency, a general tendency for European industry to move away from certain heavy and more polluting types of manufacture, and companies' participation in voluntary schemes aiming to reduce their environmental impact. Despite these improvements, industry today is still responsible for a significant burden on our environment in terms of pollution and waste generated by the sector.
Energy Essential for the generation of industrial, commercial and societal wealth, energy also provides personal comfort and mobility. But its production and consumption place considerable pressures on the environment: greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions, land use, waste generation and oil spills. These pressures contribute to climate change, damage natural ecosystems and the man-made environment, and have adverse effects on human health.
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Urban environment Europe is a Union of cities and towns; around 75% of population of the EU have chosen urban areas as their place to live. But impacts of urbanisation extend, beyond city borders. Europeans have adopted urban lifestyles and they use city amenities such as cultural, educational or health services.
Water and marine environment All life on our planet - including our ecosystems, society and economy - is dependent on water. Marine and freshwater ecosystems have many vital functions: filtering, diluting and storing water, preventing floods, maintaining the climate balance at local and global levels, safeguarding biological diversity.
Resource efficiency and waste The global environmental problems we face today are largely the result of human overexploitation of natural resources, including (fossil) fuels, minerals, water, land and biodiversity. It has become increasingly clear that Europe's prevailing model of economic development — based on high resource use, waste generation and pollution — cannot be sustained in the long term. Today, the European Union (EU) is heavily reliant on imports and we need twice the total land area of the EU to meet our resource demands. Many of the resources are only in use for a short period of time, or they are lost to the economy through being landfilled or downcycled (involving a decrease of quality during recovery operations).
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Household consumption Understanding household consumption patterns is about understanding human behaviour. Consumption patterns in Europe are very different to those 50 years ago. Important factors that drive our consumption include growing incomes, globalisation of the economy, technological breakthroughs (such as the Internet and mobile phones), decreasing household sizes, an ageing population, and habits and cultures.
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Environmental scenarios Problems like climate change, biodiversity loss and natural resource use have long-term implications which require long-term policy solutions. To make informed strategic decisions, we must try to anticipate what lies ahead and grasp ongoing, emerging and latent developments. If we want to seriously address Europe's sustainability, we have to look beyond two legislative cycles and more.
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Green economy What is a 'green economy'? Although it is still debated, many organisations — EEA included — now have a shared understanding of the concept. At the most basic level, a green economy is one that generates increasing prosperity while maintaining the natural systems that sustain us.
Specific regions Certain European regions, such as the Arctic, Mediterranean, and Baltic, face environmental problems that are common throughout the region but far less known beyond its borders. Similarly, certain landscapes, such as mountain areas and seas, face common problems across Europe.
Soil Soil underpins 90% of all human food, fiber, and fuel and is essential for water and ecosystem health. It is a global carbon sink; holding an important role in the potential slowing of climate change. Soil conserves the remains of our past, it is a reservoir for genes and is an important element of our cultural heritage, through the maintenance of landscapes and biodiversity. Nevertheless, soil is being exploited and irreversibly lost and degraded as a result of conflicting demands from most economic sectors.
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Natural resources The Earth's natural resources are vital to the survival and development of the human population. These resources are limited by the Earth's capability to renew them. Although many effects of overexploitation are felt locally, the growing interdependence of nations, and international trade in natural resources, make their demand and sustainable management a global issue.
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Fisheries There is a critical overcapacity in the European fishing fleet. Over-fishing can have serious consequences for the entire marine environment. Certain trawling techniques, for example, cause damage to the highly important seabed habitat. At the other end of the food chain, seabirds, seals, whales and other marine mammals will be left with nothing to eat.
Climate change mitigation Climate change is already happening: temperatures are rising, drought and wild fires are starting to occur more frequently, rainfall patterns are shifting, glaciers and snow are melting, and the global mean sea level is rising. Most of the warming is very likely due to the observed increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations as a result of emissions from human activities. To mitigate climate change, we must reduce or prevent these emissions.
Environment and health A clean environment is essential for human health and well-being. However, the interactions between the environment and human health are highly complex and difficult to assess. This makes the use of the precautionary principle particularly useful. The best-known health impacts are related to ambient air pollution, poor water quality and insufficient sanitation.
Policy instruments Policies have a key role in determining, and improving the state of our environment. European environmental policies have developed significantly since the first Environment Action Programme was decided in 1973. Since then several hundred legal acts addressing environmental issues have been adopted. Environmental policy evaluation helps to identify how and which policies work; and what their contribution can be for ‘living well, within the limits of our planet’.
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Environmental technology Europe is a world leader in eco-efficient technologies. The EU's eco-industries, which employ more than two million people, account for about one third of the global market and are growing by around 5 % a year. However, substantial barriers to the exploitation of these opportunities remain, especially environmentally-damaging subsidies and the absence of financial incentives to eco-innovate.

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