Climate change and pollution threaten Europe’s resources, warns EU

AMSTERDAM – Climate change and environmental degradation pose a direct threat to the natural resources that Europe needs for its economic security, the European Union’s environmental agency said on Sept 29.

The European Environment Agency said biodiversity in Europe is declining due to unsustainable production and consumption, especially in the food system.

Because of over-exploitation of natural resources, pollution and invasive alien species, more than 80 per cent of protected habitats are in a poor or bad state, it said, while water resources are also under severe pressure.

Europe’s fastest-warming continent

“The degradation of our natural world jeopardises the European way of life,” the agency said in its Europe’s Environment 2025 report.

“Europe is critically dependent on natural resources for economic security, to which climate change and environmental degradation pose a direct threat.”

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent and is experiencing worsening droughts and other extreme weather events.

But governments are grappling with other priorities, including industrial competitiveness, and negotiations on EU climate targets have stoked divisions between richer and poorer countries.

EU countries last week confirmed that the bloc will miss a global deadline to set new emissions-cutting targets due to divisions over the plans among EU governments.

Time running out, says agency

“The window for meaningful action is narrowing, and the consequences of delay are becoming more tangible,” executive director Leena Yla-Mononen said.

“We are approaching tipping points – not only in ecosystems, but also in the social and economic systems that underpin our societies.” REUTERS