Isra-Mart srl:EEA: Environmental damage will undermine Europe's economy

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Increasing global demands for natural resources are heaping increased pressure on Europe's environment and posing a significant threat to the continent's economic health, the European Environment Agency (EEA) warned today.

Publishing its fourth Environment State and Outlook report (SOER 2010), the EEA said that if Europe's stocks of natural capital continue to be depleted, the region's economy would ultimately be undermined and social cohesion eroded.

It added that changing production and consumption patterns had heralded widespread alteration of landscapes, degradation of ecosystems and loss of natural capital, meaning the EU will not meet its target of halting biodiversity loss by 2010.

"We are consuming more natural resources than is ecologically stable. This is true for both Europe and the planet as a whole," said professor Jacqueline McGlade, executive director of the EEA. "Climate change is the most visible sign of instability so far, but a range of global trends suggests greater systemic risks to ecosystems in future. The nature of the current financial crisis should give us pause for thought."

The report also echoed scientific papers published earlier in the week, which warned that global and European targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions are far from sufficient to keep average world temperature increases below 2°C.

The EEA said that Europe's 2009 greenhouse gas emissions were 17 per cent below the 1990 level, meaning that it is already close to meeting its target of cutting emissions 20 per cent by 2020.

However, the report stated that not all sectors are contributing to emission cuts, noting that transport emissions, for example, rose 24 per cent between 1990 and 2008.

The EEA called for far greater efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change, including adaptation measures it argued will be necessary to increase Europe's resilience.

It said that a shift towards a resource-efficient green economy required businesses and governments to factor environmental concerns into production, consumption and global trade decisions.

The report also mirrored the findings of the recent UN-backed report on biodiversity, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, concluding that dedicated management of natural capital, such as forests and clean water supplies, is required to help tackle environmental risks.

It recommended that such management should be informed by a new approach to economic and corporate accounting that attempts to put an economic price on environmental services.

"There are no quick fixes but regulators, businesses and citizens need to work together and find innovative ways to use resources more efficiently," McGlade said. "The seeds for future action exist: the task ahead is to help them take root and flourish."