Europe Urged to Strengthen Climate Action, Protect Environment

Europe Urged to Strengthen Climate Action, Protect Environment

Europe is a global leader in combating climate change but must do more to protect its environment and improve resilience against global warming, the European Environment Agency (EEA) warned on Monday.

“Significant progress has been made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, but the overall state of Europe’s environment is not good,” the EEA said while presenting its latest report.

The assessment comes after EU member states at a UN climate summit last week failed to present a formal 2035 plan to further cut greenhouse gases due to disagreements among the 27 members. The bloc is also struggling to agree on a European Commission proposal to reduce emissions by 90 percent from 1990 levels by 2040.

EU greenhouse gas emissions have fallen 37 percent since 1990, outpacing major polluters like China and the United States, thanks to reduced fossil fuel use and a doubling of renewable energy since 2005.

However, the EEA said EU countries must “step up implementation of policies and longer-term sustainability measures” already agreed under the European Green Deal.

The report highlights ongoing environmental challenges: degradation of nature, biodiversity loss, overexploited land, and water scarcity. Some 81 percent of protected habitats are in poor or bad condition, 60–70 percent of soils are degraded, and 62 percent of water bodies are ecologically unhealthy.

Climate change worsens water scarcity, yet the EEA noted that up to 40 percent of water in agriculture, supply, and energy could be saved through better governance, technology, reuse, and public awareness.

Extreme weather events, including heatwaves, floods, landslides, and wildfires, have caused over 240,000 deaths in the 27 EU countries between 1980 and 2023. The financial toll is also rising, with average annual losses 2.5 times higher between 2020 and 2023 compared to 2010–2019. In 2023, floods in Slovenia alone cost 16 percent of the country’s GDP.

“Human survival depends on high-quality nature, particularly for adapting to climate change,” said Catherine Ganzleben, head of the EEA’s Sustainable and Fair Transitions unit. “Sustainability is not a choice; the question is when we act. Acting now is far less costly than delaying.”

The report also noted progress: deaths linked to fine particulate matter exposure fell 45 percent between 2005 and 2022, demonstrating the health benefits of pollution reduction.