EU environment policy needs urgent boost, agency warns

European Environment Agency warns that the EU needs to do more if it wants to meet its 2050 emissions and circular economy targets.

The European Union can achieve its long-term environmental goals only if more ambitious policy objectives are set, according to a report published today (3 March).

The report, by the European Environment Agency (EEA), warns that health will be affected – in particular by air pollution – if policies are not better integrated.

Hans Bruyninckx, the EEA’s director, who presented the report today, said urgent action is needed if the EU wants to meet its 2050 carbon emissions and circular economy targets.

No EU member state is “so well advanced that there is no more work to do”, said Bruyninckx.

Bruyninckx said the research showed that, in some cases, even meeting existing targets would be a significant achievement.

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But there were some positives in the report. In the period 2000-11, the number of green enterprises in the EU has increased by 50%.

In response, the European Commission pointed to a number of environmental initiatives planned for this year. They include measures on the circular economy, a review of biodiversity strategy, an action plan on ocean governance, and a revised air-quality package. Karmenu Vella, the European commissioner for the environment, maritime affairs and fisheries, said he saw the report as the “starting-line” of his mandate.

The new circular economy proposal, which aims at boosting recycling and preventing the loss of valuable natural resources, would need to be more ambitious than the previous version put forward by the Commission but withdrawn last week, Vella said. But he made no commitment to increase specific targets, adding that some needed to be examined on a country-by-country basis.

The EU is also working on revising air-quality legislation, including a ceiling on emissions. Air-quality legislation already in place has resulted in cleaner air, the report found. But poor air quality remains the number one environmental cause of premature death in the EU, the report said.

The Commission’s €315 billion investment plan will play an important role in helping environmental projects, Vella said. According to the commissioner, private investment should further increase green growth. “Those goals are not achieved without involvement of the private sector,” he said.