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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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.
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.
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).
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.
Ursula von der Leyen, president-elect of the European Commission, set her team’s political priorities for the next five years. A European Green Deal, outlining more ambitious action on climate and biodiversity crises, is at the heart of her agenda. European policies have long tackled environmental degradation and climate change with some success and some failures. Supported by growing calls for action by the public, this new policy term — with the new European Commission and Parliament — provides a unique opportunity to scale up and speed up a green and just transition for Europe.
This past summer’s heatwaves and extreme weather events have broken new climate records in Europe once again reinforcing the importance of climate change adaptation. We sat down with Blaz Kurnik, a European Environment Agency (EEA) expert on climate change impacts and adaptation to discuss the EEA’s new report on how climate change is impacting agriculture in Europe which came out earlier this month.
What will Europe’s environment look like in 25 years? Will we achieve our common vision of ‘living well, within the limits of our planet’? Will we be able to limit global warming and build climate-resilient cities surrounded by healthy nature? Europeans are increasingly concerned as recent European Parliament elections showed. Europe’s next generation is also calling for urgent action, but how will their demands for a sustainable future shape Europe’s environment and socio-economic policies? On our 25th anniversary, we are reflecting on how Europe’s environmental knowledge and policy have developed in the last 25 years and how we, the EEA together with its networks, can support efforts towards sustainability in the next 25 years.
Plastic waste remains a huge and growing problem. But what is the European Union doing to address the issue? Ioannis Bakas, the EEA’s waste prevention expert gives a brief overview of the EEA’s report on preventing plastic waste in Europe, which was published earlier this month.
Aggregated data reported by companies on the import, export, production, destruction, feedstock and process agent use of ozone-depleting substances
in the European Union, 2006-2018
This report aims to go beyond theoretical discussions to explore the practical implications of transitions research for policy and practice, building on the insights from past assessments. It highlights the growing links to established EU policy frameworks and identifies how transitions thinking is being operationalised at different scales across Europe. Co-authored by leading experts in transitions studies, the report has also benefited strongly from interactions with EEA partners in multiple policy areas, in particular, at a workshop co-hosted with the European Commission's European Political Strategy Centre in July 2018.
This briefing is based on a range of EEA and Eionet work, and is intended to provide parliamentarians and the European Commission with a selection of key insights on the challenges for environmental sustainability.
This briefing presents progress made by the European Union (EU) and its Member States in meeting the 2010 emission ceilings that remain applicable until the end of 2019 under the Directive (EU) 2016/2284 on the reduction of national emissions of certain atmospheric pollutants (the National Emission Ceilings (NEC) Directive). In addition, it provides an assessment of the projected emissions reported by Member States for 2020 and 2030, in relation to the 2020 and 2030 reduction commitments for each country set in the Directive.
A recent analysis by PBL, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, has mapped key EU policies that influence land in the Netherlands. This map shows the results, including: locations supported by EU subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy (pillars 1 and 2), EU regional policy, the LIFE+ Programme and the fisheries fund; Trans-European Transport networks (TEN-T); safety zones designated under the Seveso Directive (2012/18/EU); river basin districts as well as water bodies who quality is insufficient; and Natura 2000 sites (both terrestrial and marine) as well as their zones of influence.
The European Observation Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion (ESPON) presented a forecast of land-use trends in Europe for the coming two decades
The European Union's effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions are working. In fact, the EU is expected to meet its unilateral 20 % reduction target (compared to 1990) ahead of the agreed 2020 deadline. Moreover, the EU intends to reduce domestic emissions by at least 40 % by 2030 and further decarbonise its economy by 2050. The EU currently emits around 10 % of global greenhouse-gas emissions.
The schematic figure shows the year of (planned) adoption of the different EU Euro emission standards (EURO 1 to EURO 5) for road vehicles, by various Asian countries.
The grid is based on the recommendation at the 1st European Workshop on Reference Grids in 2003 and later INSPIRE geographical grid systems. For each country three vector polygon grid shape files, 1, 10 and 100 km, are available. The grids cover at least country borders - plus 15km buffer - and, where applicable, marine Exclusive Economic Zones v7.0 - plus 15km buffer - (www.vliz.be/vmdcdata/marbound).
Note that the extent of the grid into the marine area does not reflect the extent of the territorial waters.
This bar graphic shows the number of NGOs enjoying advisory status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) from 40 countries in 1948 to 3187 countries in 2008.
Aggregated data reported by companies on the import, export, production, destruction, feedstock and process agent use of ozone-depleting substances
in the European Union, 2006-2018
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.
This past summer’s heatwaves and extreme weather events have broken new climate records in Europe once again reinforcing the importance of climate change adaptation. We sat down with Blaz Kurnik, a European Environment Agency (EEA) expert on climate change impacts and adaptation to discuss the EEA’s new report on how climate change is impacting agriculture in Europe which came out earlier this month.
Ursula von der Leyen, president-elect of the European Commission, set her team’s political priorities for the next five years. A European Green Deal, outlining more ambitious action on climate and biodiversity crises, is at the heart of her agenda. European policies have long tackled environmental degradation and climate change with some success and some failures. Supported by growing calls for action by the public, this new policy term — with the new European Commission and Parliament — provides a unique opportunity to scale up and speed up a green and just transition for Europe.
This report aims to go beyond theoretical discussions to explore the practical implications of transitions research for policy and practice, building on the insights from past assessments. It highlights the growing links to established EU policy frameworks and identifies how transitions thinking is being operationalised at different scales across Europe. Co-authored by leading experts in transitions studies, the report has also benefited strongly from interactions with EEA partners in multiple policy areas, in particular, at a workshop co-hosted with the European Commission's European Political Strategy Centre in July 2018.
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.
A recent analysis by PBL, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, has mapped key EU policies that influence land in the Netherlands. This map shows the results, including: locations supported by EU subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy (pillars 1 and 2), EU regional policy, the LIFE+ Programme and the fisheries fund; Trans-European Transport networks (TEN-T); safety zones designated under the Seveso Directive (2012/18/EU); river basin districts as well as water bodies who quality is insufficient; and Natura 2000 sites (both terrestrial and marine) as well as their zones of influence.
The European Observation Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion (ESPON) presented a forecast of land-use trends in Europe for the coming two decades
The European Union's effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions are working. In fact, the EU is expected to meet its unilateral 20 % reduction target (compared to 1990) ahead of the agreed 2020 deadline. Moreover, the EU intends to reduce domestic emissions by at least 40 % by 2030 and further decarbonise its economy by 2050. The EU currently emits around 10 % of global greenhouse-gas emissions.
The schematic figure shows the year of (planned) adoption of the different EU Euro emission standards (EURO 1 to EURO 5) for road vehicles, by various Asian countries.
The grid is based on the recommendation at the 1st European Workshop on Reference Grids in 2003 and later INSPIRE geographical grid systems. For each country three vector polygon grid shape files, 1, 10 and 100 km, are available. The grids cover at least country borders - plus 15km buffer - and, where applicable, marine Exclusive Economic Zones v7.0 - plus 15km buffer - (www.vliz.be/vmdcdata/marbound).
Note that the extent of the grid into the marine area does not reflect the extent of the territorial waters.
This bar graphic shows the number of NGOs enjoying advisory status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) from 40 countries in 1948 to 3187 countries in 2008.
This past summer’s heatwaves and extreme weather events have broken new climate records in Europe once again reinforcing the importance of climate change adaptation. We sat down with Blaz Kurnik, a ...
