Lahti, a city in Finland currently estimated to have a population of 120,000, was awarded the European Green Capital Award in 2021 and has continued to pioneer in emissions reduction and environmental action. The European Green Capital Award was created in 2010 and is awarded to one city each year that sets an example for...
Dear Mr. Wopke Hoekstra, European Union Commissioner for Climate Action,My name is Brittany Demogenes. I am the EU Country Manager for Climate Scorecard, a non-profit organization that monitors the climate policies and programs of leading greenhouse gas-emitting countries.Based on a review of EU policies, we believe that much can be done to increase the EU’s...
Rating CAs part of the EU Climate Monitoring Mechanism, EU Member States are required to continuously improve their national inventory systems by United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) requirements and to “ensure the timeliness, transparency, accuracy, consistency, comparability, and completeness of their greenhouse gas inventories.” The European Union maintains an inventory system that...
Rating B (Moderate Progress)Droughts and excessive heat caused by climate change make it increasingly difficult for farmers to produce adequate food. Climate change has led to less fruitful harvests and higher production costs, which has impacted both the quantity and quality of food produced in the EU.According to Copa-Cogeca, an EU farmer’s union that acts...
Rating: B- Moderately Effective The EU’s directives pertaining to water use are comprehensive and well thought out but lack effectiveness due to Member States’ national policies that diverge from these directives. Over the past several years, climate change’s impact on the EU’s water resources has become abundantly clear. In May 2023, images of severe flooding...
Climate Progress in the First Half of 2003 Rating: A-Significant Progress The most recent EU emissions data come from Eurostat and details emissions over the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022. Eurostat has written on its website that it plans to update its emissions charts in August 2023, so emissions data for the first quarter of...
P2Green is a project awarded a contract and funding by the EU’s Horizon Europe initiative. It is working to develop, test, and adapt sanitary waste to produce safe, bio-based fertilizers for agriculture. The project began on December 1, 2022, and will end on November 30, 2026. 32 European organizations are driving the implementation of the...
The EU has set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 and has outlined the steps that will need to be taken in order to achieve this goal in its 2030 Climate Target Plan. In light of this, the EU should reach or slightly exceed the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change’s...
Under the Regulation on the Governance of the Energy Union, EU Member States must phase out fossil fuel subsidies to meet the EU’s climate goals. The phase-out date is 2050; however, talks are underway within the EU to set an earlier end date. Additionally, in November 2021, the Glasgow Climate Pact, adopted by UN member...
The only group of indigenous people that can be found in the EU is the Saami people. The total Saami population is estimated to be around 80,000, and the Saami people are scattered throughout Northern Finland, Sweden, Norway, and part of Russia. There are ten Saami languages, nine of which are still spoken today. Aside...
