The European Environment Agency (EEA) has just published a report on 'Europe’s environment and climate: knowledge for resilience, prosperity and sustainability'. The report drew on the findings of the stakeholder workshops co-organised by the EESC and the EEA with a view to harnessing participants' knowledge. It is the most comprehensive analysis of the state of play of and outlook for the continent’s environment, climate and sustainability, building on data from across 38 countries. It provides decision makers at European and national levels as well as the general public with a comprehensive and cross-cutting assessment of environment, climate and sustainability in Europe. Europe's environment 2025 is the seventh state of the environment report published by the EEA since 1995.

Overall, the report finds that significant progress has been made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, but the overall state of Europe’s environment is not good, especially its nature which continues to face degradation, overexploitation and biodiversity loss. The impacts of accelerating climate change are also an urgent challenge. The outlook for most environmental trends is concerning and poses major risks to Europe’s economic prosperity, security and quality of life. The report stresses that climate change and environmental degradation pose a direct threat to Europe’s competitiveness, which depends on natural resources. The report urges stepping up implementation of policies and longer-term sustainability-enabling actions already agreed to under the European Green Deal. Such actions align with the European Commission’s Competitiveness Compass priorities on innovation, decarbonisation and security.

Chapter 4 of the report on Managing the dynamic between our economy and our natural resources focuses on the circular economy, finding that transformative change to production and consumption systems (decarbonising the economy, shifting towards circularity, reducing pollution and exercising responsible stewardship of natural resources) is urgently required.

Europe's environment 2025 has three parts: the main report, thematic briefings and country profiles.