European environmental policies

Because they are heavily populated and highly industrialized, the European nations have significant impacts on the global environment. The decisions made by Europeans regarding the management and use of natural resources have the potential to affect the world’s environment in either positive or negative ways.

Under the leadership of the European Union, Europe is intensely involved in efforts to reduce the environmentally harmful effects on the earth that result from human activity in modern industrialized societies. The European countries address these issues not only from a European perspective but from a global perspective as well. European policy makers are highly aware of their role in the global and of the impacts of their decisions and activities on the global environment. For example, as the leaders of industrialized nations, they have accepted a serious commitment to reduce emissions, which have been determined to be a significant cause of global warming.

Because of the diversity of terrain and the differences in natural resources from one country to another as well as varying country locations, some having major coastal areas and others being totally landlocked, environment-related priorities vary among European nations. However, all share concerns regarding several major environmental issues; these include greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, changes in land use and deforestation, loss of biological diversity, rising sea levels, air pollution, and water (especially eutrophication, or the depletion of oxygen in water).

Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change

Global warming is a major concern among Europeans. All of the European countries have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which was set forth by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The objective of the agreement is to combat global warming by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the air by setting binding target reductions in emissions for each country. European nations have concentrated on the reduction of fossil-fuel use as the primary means of meeting their Kyoto Protocol commitments.

Because coal-fired power plants are the most significant emitters of carbon dioxide (CO₂), the primary greenhouse gas, the reduction and even elimination of the use of as a fuel is a major goal in Europe; this trend is supported by environmental groups, including Green political parties. The coal industry, particularly in England, which has had a significant history of coal mining, has attempted to avoid being eliminated completely by developing ways to make coal a cleaner-burning fuel. Two methods that have been suggested are the underground of coal and the trapping and storing of CO₂ emissions underground. European Union (EU) coal consumption in 2023 was more than 20 percent lower than in the previous year. In the fourth quarter of 2023, power producers in Europe generated more electricity from wind than from coal for the first time.

Hydropower has become an important fuel source for power plants in many European nations, especially in countries, such as Norway, that have abundant rivers and lakes. In 2021, hydropower was the largest source of non-combustible renewable electricity in Europe (48 percent). Europe has also increased investments in wind (35.5 percent) and solar power (14.1 percent). By 2020, Iceland led the way with renewables, which provided more than 82 percent of its energy, according to the International Energy Agency. Norway and Sweden followed at about 61 percent and 58 percent, respectively.

Another major way in which Europe is attempting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is by reducing the use of fossil fuels (oil in the form of gasoline and diesel fuel) in the transportation industry. An increase in the number of transport vehicles has resulted in an increase in fuel consumption, which has the potential to nullify previous reductions made in emissions from power plants and other sources. Biofuels are alternatives to fossil fuels in some cases. In 2021, for example, 16.5 percent of biofuel in Europe was used in the transport industry, while the industrial sector accounted for 27.6 percent.

The European Commission (EC), the executive body of the European Union, made two important proposals regarding the use of renewable resources for the production of energy. With the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive, the commission set a target requiring that 20 percent of energy used in Europe be produced using renewable resources by 2020. The EU exceeded its goal, reaching a share of 22.1 percent of renewable energy in 2020. Renewable energy sources in 202 were bioenergy (58.1 percent), wind power (14.3 percent), hydropower (12.4 percent), solar (6.9 percent), ambient heat (5.5 percent), and geothermal (2.9 percent). It set a new renewable energy goal of at least 40 percent by 2030. However, after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the EU took further action to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels--which were purchased from Russia--by amending earlier directives and approving the REPowerEU Plan. The EC proposed a new target of at least 45 percent renewables by 2030.

In addition, the EC proposed that 10 percent of transport fuels should be biofuels by 2020. However, in 2021, nearly 93 percent of EU road and rail transport energy came from fossil fuels. Most member states had not reached the 2020 target, but the EC set a target of at least 14 percent by 2030.

The European Parliament adopted the European Climate Law in 2021. This law sets a target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions (compared to 1990 levels) by 55 percent or more by 2030 and aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

In regard to the production of biofuels, European nations have considered the effects of such production on ecosystems in other parts of the world. They are aware that the reduction of food-crop production in Europe would necessitate increased production elsewhere to meet the global need, and that this could affect land use, possibly resulting in the destruction of and rain forests. EU member states supported development of advanced biofuels made from sustainable feedstock.

Another environmental concern of the nations of Europe is the projected rise in sea levels as a result of global climate change. Rises in sea levels cause coastal deterioration and could result in significant loss of landmass, posing a potential economic threat in the areas of tourism and recreation. From 1900 to 2020, global mean sea level (GMSL) rose about 8.2 inches (21 centimeters) at an accelerating rate. In the twenty-first centuries, sea levels have been rising more than twice as quickly as during the twentieth century. The flooding that would result from rising sea levels is also a major concern, particularly to the Netherlands, large portions of which lie near or below sea level. In addition to implementing projects for raising dikes and securing seawalls, the Netherlands has invented the sand motor to slow or even reverse the loss of beaches. Engineers use sand to create an artificial peninsula. Ocean wave action pushes the sand along the coastline, gradually regenerating it. Since the first sand motor was created in 2011, new sand dunes have formed and the shoreline has not eroded. The Netherlands had developed other responses to potential flooding, incluind a floating farm in Rotterdam that supports forty cows to ensure the food supply is not disrupted.

Changes in Land Use and Deforestation

The relationships of land usage to and to air and are major environmental concerns in Europe. Any activities that alter or destroy ecosystems result in the loss or serious reduction in numbers of the plant and animal species that depend on those ecosystems for habitat. It has been argued that the conversion of increasing areas of arable land to the planting of crops to meet the needs of both food-crop and biofuel-crop production could pose serious threats to biodiversity throughout Europe. Increasing the land used for crop production would have serious impacts on forests and grasslands. Also, the destruction of these types of land areas would remove substantial quantities of the major natural means of removing CO₂ from the air—that is, plants and trees.

The environmental impacts of farming constitute a significant concern among Europeans. Almost one-half of the land area within the European Union is used for agriculture; thus farming methods and animal husbandry have major effects on the European environment. With the increased global demand for food production in response to growth, farming methods have become more intensive in Europe just as they have worldwide. This has resulted in increased use of fertilizers and pesticides as well as increased land usage for crop production, with serious impacts on both air quality and water quality. European nations continue to struggle with these concerns.

Runoff from fertilized fields has increased the amounts of nutrients in waterways and in surrounding seas, causing harmful effects on both freshwater species and sea life. Residues from pesticides have increased the amounts of toxins in both air and water, destroying aquatic life and causing severe damage to forests. Because of their location, the forests of Switzerland in particular have suffered severe damage from air pollution, with almost 35 percent of the trees seriously affected. Through its system of agricultural programs known as the Common Agriculture Policy, the European Union has implemented reforms to ameliorate these situations throughout Europe. In addition, the agricultural industry has worked to combat the environmentally adverse effects of farming. In 2020, just 9.1 percent of EU agricultural land was used for organic farming. The European Green Deal aims to have 25 percent of EU agricultural areas under organic farming by 2030.

Loss of Biological Diversity

Farming, industrialization, construction of roads and recreational areas, and urban have all contributed to loss of and its accompanying loss of biodiversity throughout Europe. Although the nations of Europe did not meet a 2010 target for halting loss of biodiversity, significant improvement has been seen. More and more land in Europe has been protected as habitat through both European Union programs and individual country provisions. The Natura 2000 network provides protection from exploitation to 17 percent of the land included in the European Union.

Thirty-nine European countries have programs that ensure protection of habitat, but European biodiversity is still very susceptible to loss, with from 40 percent to 85 percent of habitat and 40 percent to 70 percent of plant and animal species estimated to be at risk. Owing to the ease with which they can be converted to cropland, grasslands and wetlands are at high of being lost throughout Europe. Increased use of hydropower also poses a potential threat to biodiversity. Dams and reservoirs destroy both habitats and wildlife populations in the areas they flood; fish populations are threatened by the changing of the flow of rivers caused by dams. Some European countries (including Germany, Norway, and Sweden) have enacted measures to address and alleviate these threats, such as through the installation of fish ladders at dams and the use of mini-hydropower stations.

The loss of marine biodiversity is another environmental concern among the European countries. The three major causes of declines in fish and shellfish populations are global warming, pollution, and overexploitation by the fisheries industry. Global warming has caused certain species of fish to move to cooler waters in more northern regions and has also interfered with spawning owing to unfavorable habitat conditions. Farming and other practices of modern industrialized societies have contributed to declines in populations as well, as agricultural containing pesticides, industrial chemicals, oil spills, and other toxins have caused marked reductions in marine life. Nutrients contained in runoff water from artificially fertilized fields also create unfavorable conditions for fish. In deep-sea waters, these nutrients produce the highly hydrogen sulfide.

Overexploitation of the seas in the form of the excessive taking of fish by commercial fisheries is a very significant cause of great reductions in both numbers and species of fish. The European Union addresses this problem through the Common Fisheries Policy, which limits the numbers of fish of particular species that may be taken based on the results of scientific studies. Critics have argued, however, that the importance of the fisheries industry to the economies of many European nations has led to the setting of these limits at levels that tend to be higher than are actually environmentally sound. This situation, coupled with the numbers of fish taken illegally, continues to present a problem in Europe’s reestablishment of aquatic populations.

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