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...
Agriculture is fundamental to the French way of life at home as well as to its identity abroad. As of 2020 in France, usable agricultural areas represent 269 000 km² or 49% of the country. These are the most recent figures made available by the 2020 Agricultural census, a global data collection process guided by the FAO...
The EU is one of the world’s leading producers and net exporters of agriculture, making it unsurprising that agriculture makes up approximately 10% of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions. The EU traditionally exports more agricultural products than it imports; in 2020, agriculture comprised 9.5% of the EU’s total exports while it comprised 7.1% of the...
Looking Back 2022: The Introduction of the REPowerEU Plan/ Looking Forward 2023: Increasing investment in Existing Climate Mitigation Funds Russia’s war on Ukraine created significant uncertainty within the EU regarding how it is going to produce enough energy to power itself through winter while still maintaining its ambitious climate goals. The EU’s previous reliance on...
In October 2022, the EU introduced its “Digitalising the Energy System-EU Action Plan”, which will revolutionize the EU’s current power grid. The plan aims to contribute to EU energy policy objectives by creating a sustainable, secure, transparent, and competitive market for digital energy services. It also aims to facilitate the integration of renewable resources into...
