Archive:Environment statistics introduced
The text for this article has been copied in preparation of updating it for the 2012 edition of the Eurostat yearbook.
Please do not edit this article while the update is ongoing. Eurostat, in close partnership with the European Environment Agency (EEA), provides statistics and further information on environmental pressures and the state of the environment. This data supports the implementation and monitoring of the European Union's (EU's) environmental legislation, including its sixth environment action programme (EAP). The action programme, laid down by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers Decision 1600/2002/EC of 22 July 2002 is a ten-year (2002-2012) policy programme for the environment. It identifies four key priorities:
- tackling climate change;
- nature and biodiversity;
- environment and health;
- sustainable use of natural resources and the management of waste.
Climate change: the action programme foresees an 8 % cut in greenhouse gas emissions in the period 2008-2012 compared with 1990 levels. Furthermore, the EU adopted a climate action and renewable energy package in December 2008, obliging it to cut emissions to at least 20 % below 1990 levels by 2020.
Nature and biodiversity: although the original goal of halting biodiversity loss by 2010 was not reached, a new target was adopted in March 2010: to halt the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services in the EU by 2020, and to restore them insofar as feasible – while stepping up the EU’s contribution to averting global biodiversity loss. Policies include completion of the Natura 2000 network, which is the largest network of protected areas in the world. Other actions concern developing new sectoral biodiversity action plans; paying greater attention to protecting landscapes, the marine environment and soils; and establishing measures to prevent industrial and mining accidents.
Environment and health: the EU strives to engender closer cooperation between health, environment and research areas. Its policies in this domain include a complete overhaul of the EU’s risk-management system for chemicals, developing a strategy for reducing risks from pesticides, protection of water quality in the EU, noise abatement, and a thematic strategy for air quality.
Sustainable use of natural resources and the management of waste: the EU's policies in this area include increasing resource efficiency and decoupling resource use from economic growth, increasing recycling and waste prevention with the aid of an integrated product policy and measures targeting specific waste streams, such as hazardous waste, sludges and biodegradable waste.
In order to implement the sixth environment action programme, the European Commission adopted seven thematic strategies: air pollution (adopted in September 2005); marine environment (October 2005); the prevention and recycling of waste (December 2005); the sustainable use of natural resources (December 2005); urban environment (January 2006); soil (September 2006); and the sustainable use of pesticides (July 2006). The data required to monitor the action programme are collected in ten environmental data centres. Eurostat manages the data centres on waste, natural resources and products, while the EEA is responsible for air, climate change and water, biodiversity and land use, and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) is responsible for soil and forestry. Each strategy follows an in-depth review of existing policy and wide-ranging stakeholder consultation. The aim is to create positive synergies between the seven strategies, as well as to integrate them with existing sectoral policies and the sustainable development strategy. At the European Council meeting of 26 March 2010, EU leaders set out their plans for a Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. As part of the sustainable growth priority one of the flagship initiatives concerns a resource-efficient Europe. The aims are to help decouple economic growth from the use of resources, support the shift towards a low-carbon economy, increase the use of renewable energy sources, modernise the transport sector, and promote energy efficiency. The integrated economic and employment guidelines, first combined in 2008, were also revised as part of the Europe 2020 strategy. Guideline 5 concerns improving resource efficiency and reducing greenhouse gases.
Further Eurostat information
Dedicated section
See also
Other information
- Climate change
- Environmental data centres
- Sixth Environment Action Programme
- Decision 1600/2002/EC of the European Parliament and Council of 22 July 2002