Unless urgent, far-reaching and decisive action is taken, the EU will miss its environmental objectives by 2020 and its climate objectives by 2030, according to the five-year report on the state of Europe’s environment published on Wednesday 4 December by the European Environment Agency.
While emphasising that Europe is facing “environmental challenges of unprecedented scale and urgency”, the EEA believes that there is nevertheless reason to hope and to realise the vision of a sustainable and low-carbon Europe.
“Although most of the 2020 targets will not be met, especially those related to biodiversity, there is still a chance of achieving the long-term goals and objectives for 2030 and 2050”, it says.
According to the EEA, progress in the protection and conservation of biodiversity and nature in Europe remains daunting: of the 13 specific strategic objectives set for 2020, only two are likely to be achieved: the designation of marine and terrestrial protected areas. And by 2030, if current trends continue, nature will have deteriorated further, while air, water and soil pollution will continue.
The EEA notes that while the EU has succeeded in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 22% between 1990 and 2017, current trends indicate that progress in areas such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, industrial emissions, waste production, improving energy efficiency and the share of renewable energy is slowing down. “Looking ahead, the current rate of progress will not be enough to meet the climate and energy targets of 2030 and 2050”, it warns.
To the press, which, in the light of this report, asked if the EEA was not afraid that the implementation of the future European Green Deal would be weakened, Ursula von der Leyen replied on the same day that, on the contrary, “the Green Deal comes at the right time”. These are the terms used, in the introduction to the report, by the Executive Vice-President of the Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, who will present this report and its recommendations to the press on Thursday 5 December, together with EEA Executive Director Hans Bruyninckx. To view the report: https://bit.ly/367lQYH (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)