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Briefing

The European environment — state and outlook 2020: knowledge for transition to a sustainable Europe

Briefing Published 04 Dec 2019 Last modified 09 Aug 2021
2 min read
Photo: © Simon Hadleigh-Sparks, My City EEA
This page was archived on 09 Aug 2021 with reason: A new version has been published
Europe will not achieve its 2030 goals without urgent action during the next 10 years to address the alarming rate of biodiversity loss, increasing impacts of climate change and the overconsumption of natural resources. The European Environment Agency’s (EEA) latest ‘State of the Environment’ report states that Europe faces environmental challenges of unprecedented scale and urgency.

"Europe’s environment is at a tipping point. We have a narrow window of opportunity in the next decade to scale up measures to protect nature, lessen the impacts of climate change and radically reduce our consumption of natural resources.

Our assessment shows that incremental changes have resulted in progress in some areas but not nearly enough to meet our long-term goals. We already have the knowledge, technologies and tools we need to make key production and consumption systems such as food, mobility and energy sustainable.

Our future well-being and prosperity depend on this and our ability to harness society wide action to bring about change and create a better future."

Hans Bruyninckx, EEA Executive Director

 

What & how?

Key messages

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).

The European environment – state and outlook 2020 is published by the EEA every five years as mandated in its regulation. SOER 2020 is the 6th SOER published by the EEA since 1995. It offers solid, science-based insights on how we must respond to the huge and complex challenges we face, such as climate change, biodiversity loss and air and water pollution.

SOER 2020 has been prepared in close collaboration with the EEA’s European Environment Information and Observation Network (Eionet). The report draws on the Eionet’s vast expertise of leading experts and scientists in the environmental field, across the EEA’s 33 member countries and six cooperating countries. SOER 2020 was accompanied by a stakeholder interaction process which engaged a wide range of actors in discussion of the conclusions of SOER 2020 and their implications to inform responses to sustainability challenges.

Contacts for media enquiries

Antti Kaartinen, Press officer
Mobile: +45 2336 1381

Constant Brand, Press officer
Mobile: +45 2174 1872

Help us improve our work

We value your thoughts and suggestions about SOER 2020. Thank you for taking this three minute survey and helping us improve our work.

SOER 2020 was accompanied by a stakeholder interaction process which engaged a wide range of actors in discussion of the conclusions of SOER 2020 and their implications to inform responses to sustainability challenges.

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Article SOER 2020 - At a glance The European environment — state and outlook 2020 (SOER 2020) comes at a crucial time of urgent sustainability challenges that require urgent systemic solutions. The overarching challenge of this century is how we achieve development across the world that balances societal, economic and environmental considerations. Sustainability needs to become the guiding principle for ambitious and coherent policies and actions across society.
News Europe’s state of the environment 2020: change of direction urgently needed to face climate change challenges, reverse degradation and ensure future prosperity Europe will not achieve its 2030 goals without urgent action during the next 10 years to address the alarming rate of biodiversity loss, increasing impacts of climate change and the overconsumption of natural resources. The European Environment Agency’s (EEA) latest ‘State of the Environment’ report published today states that Europe faces environmental challenges of unprecedented scale and urgency. The report says, however, there is reason for hope, amid increased public awareness of the need to shift to a sustainable future, technological innovations, growing community initiatives and stepped up EU action like the European Green Deal.

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News Europe's sustainability agenda needs knowledge for action and more concrete targets to achieve its ambitions The European Green Deal has set unprecedented sustainability ambitions for the European Union (EU) and calls for transformational change across society. To realise such far-reaching changes, Europe needs knowledge for action. This means better uptake and use of existing knowledge, new types of knowledge, new ways of creating knowledge, and, in some policy areas, better data and more concrete targets, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA) report, published today.
Article Forward-looking assessments for better understanding of sustainability outlooks The European Environment Agency (EEA) has recently published a report on the 'drivers of change' that impact Europe's environment and sustainability’ prospects. We interviewed the project manager of the report, Lorenzo Benini who works at the EEA as system assessment and sustainability expert.
Article SOER 2020 - At a glance The European environment — state and outlook 2020 (SOER 2020) comes at a crucial time of urgent sustainability challenges that require urgent systemic solutions. The overarching challenge of this century is how we achieve development across the world that balances societal, economic and environmental considerations. Sustainability needs to become the guiding principle for ambitious and coherent policies and actions across society.

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Disclaimer

The country assessments are the sole responsibility of the EEA member and cooperating countries supported by the EEA through guidance, translation and editing.

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For references, please go to https://eea.europa.eu./soer/2020/intro or scan the QR code.

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