Extending the lifetime and delaying obsolescence of electronics can significantly reduce their environmental and climate impacts and contribute to meeting the European Union’s (EU) environment, climate and circular economy objectives. According to a European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing, published today, smartphones, televisions, washing machines and vacuum cleaners all are used on average for shorter periods […]
Read More
Time to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy, says European civil society
As Europe slowly emerges from the coronavirus crisis, the climate emergency is starting to regain the place it deserves, coming back to the top of the EU agenda. The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), which brings together civil society organisations from all Member States, developed this Opinion in response to a request by the […]
Read More
EUROPEAN AGENDA: Sustainability
Upcoming meetings INSTITUTIONS MEETINGS DATE Comisión Europea 18.06.2020 Executive Vice-President Timmermans holds a videoconference with Mr Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister for Environment and Climate Change of Canada Consejo Europeo 23.06.2020 Video conference of environment ministers June 11, European Commission: Blue sectors contribute to the recovery and pave way for EU Green Deal The European Commission published […]
Read More
Quality of Europe’s bathing waters remains high, latest annual assessment finds
The quality of Europe’s bathing water remains high, according to this year’s European bathing water quality assessment published today. Just under 85 % of swimming sites across Europe monitored in 2019 met the European Union’s highest and most stringent ‘excellent’ quality standards. The results published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European […]
Read More
Making space for the oceans
On June 8 the world celebrated World Oceans Day, when people around the planet celebrate our oceans and seas and work to raise awareness about problems facing the marine environment. The EU’s space programmes Galileo, EGNOS and Copernicus, with their positioning, navigation and earth observation services, are helping to monitor and protect the oceans and […]
Read More
Forest fires: further reinforcing of rescEU aircraft fleet
To prepare for the risk of forest fires during the upcoming summer, the EU is further reinforcing its European fleet of firefighting aircraft under the rescEU system. The EU is financing purchases by the Swedish government of 2 new firefighting airplanes to add to the reserve. This adds up to a total of 13 airplanes […]
Read More
EU greenhouse gas emissions kept decreasing in 2018, largest reductions in energy sector
The European Union (EU) cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 23.2 % from 1990 to 2018, according to latest official data, published today by the European Environment Agency (EEA). Over the period, the EU’s contribution to global emissions is estimated to have decreased from 15 % to 8 %. In 2018, the EU’s emissions decreased […]
Read More
Covid-19: EU recovery plan should prioritise climate investment
The proposed EU recovery package to tackle the profound economic recession caused by Covid-19 aims to create a sustainable future. The Covid-19 health crisis and its economic consequences are priorities for the EU and the recovery package proposed by the European Commission aims to relaunch economies, based on a greener, social and digital approach for […]
Read More
How to develop sustainable and cost-efficient air mobility
Partners of an EU-funded initiative say they have laid the groundwork methodology and tools for the design of a near-zero-emission aircraft concept meant for smaller airports. The EU-funded, UNIFIER19, project offers commuters a radically new mobility solution that will be “as simple to use as a bus,” according to a statement. Project coordinator Pipistrel Vertical […]
Read More