Without the greenhouse effect, the average temperature on Earth would be a chilly -18 °C instead of the comfortable 15 °C it is today – far too cold for plants and animals, including us, to survive!
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that of the 100 or so types of crops that provide 90 % of food worldwide, 71 are pollinated by bees!
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former US Vice-President Al Gore were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for their work on climate change.
The EU generated more of its electricity in 2021 from renewable energy (38%) than fossil fuels (35%).
The EU aims to cut emissions from transport by at least 90 % by 2050.
The energy consumption of buildings constructed nowadays is on average about one third of the energy consumption of buildings constructed before 2005.
The city of Venice sank by more than 20 cm in the 20th century.
The average carbon footprint of a European is nearly 7 tonnes of CO2 a year.
Taking action to prevent floods can save lives and money: each euro spent on flood protection could save six euros in repair costs!
Soils are home to over a quarter of all living species on Earth.
Scientists believe that oceans are acidifying faster today than at any time in the last 300 million years.
Renewable energy now provides nearly a third of all the world’s electricity.
Over 90 % of Europeans think climate change is a serious problem. What do people in your country think? Find out here
Only 2.5 % of water on the Earth is fresh water. Of this, over two-thirds are frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. So, use water wisely!
One third of investments from the EU’s NextGenerationEU Recovery Plan, and the EU’s seven-year budget will finance the European Green Deal. That’s EUR 600 billion!
Oceans absorb about 4 kg of CO2 per person per day.
More than 4.5 million people work full-time in the EU's green sector. The green sector: jobs connected to protecting and preserving the environment, for example in water and waste management, recycling and renewable energy.
In 2018, the EU was responsible for less than 10 % of global CO2 emissions, while China accounted for around 30 % and the US 14 %.
In 1991, Denmark installed the world’s first offshore wind farm “Vindeby” which included 11 wind turbines.
Greenhouse gas emissions in the EU were reduced by 23 % between 1990 and 2018.
Did you know that the European Union has its own satellite programme for observing the Earth? It's called Copernicus and it's the most advanced system in the world for monitoring the planet. Copernicus is made up of six families of satellites – 'Sentinels' – which beam down high-definition images of land and sea. The images can be used by anyone, for free, for many purposes including tracking changes in the climate and environment.
Cooking oil, fruit peelings and vegetable scraps can be converted into car fuel.
Cities cover around 2% of the Earth’s surface but are home to more than half the world’s population.
By the end of 2020, all new buildings in the EU will have to be nearly carbon-neutral.
Between 1900 and 2015, over 30,000 natural disasters occurred worldwide, causing around €6 trillion worth of damage.
An area of tropical forest about the same size as Greece is cut down every year.
Almost all countries in the world are members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – that's 197, including all EU Member States and the EU as an organisation.