‘Europe’s Environment 2025‘ is the European Environment Agency’s (EAA) is the seventh five-year report issued by the watchdog group. The findings are not a big surprise. The chart above illustrates that the safe operating space of six of the nine planetary boundaries are being exceeded.

From the EAA press release issued today (29 September 2025):

Significant progress has been made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, but the overall state of Europe’s environment is not good, especially its nature which continues to face degradation, overexploitation and biodiversity loss. The impacts of accelerating climate change are also an urgent challenge, according to the European Environment Agency’s (EEA) most comprehensive, ‘state of environment’ report, published today. The outlook for most environmental trends is concerning and poses major risks to Europe’s economic prosperity, security and quality of life.

A summary from Euractiv:

Biodiversity is declining, water resources are under “severe pressure”, and 10% of premature deaths in Europe are linked to polluted air, water, soil, noise or harmful chemicals, according to a damning report from the European Environment Agency (EEA).

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Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions are down 37% since 1990. But while this outpaces other regions, the EEA notes Europe is the fastest-warming continent and ill-prepared for more frequent and severe climate disasters.

But it is in pursuing a circular economy – moving away from the wasteful, resource-intensive linear model of production, consumption and disposal – that the EU seems to have fallen flattest.

“The overall rate of circular material use has gone from just under 11% in 2010 to 11.8% in 2023,” said Catherine Ganzleben, head of a sustainability unit at the EEA, who called the lack of progress “really shocking” when discussing the report ahead of publication.

Out of 22 environmental and climate policy targets set in the report, the EU is on track to meet just two by 2030.

Report summary continued:

Complex challenges ahead –

Biodiversity is declining across terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems in Europe due to persistent pressures driven by unsustainable production and consumption patterns, demonstrated most notably in the food system. Looking ahead, the deterioration in the state of Europe’s biodiversity and ecosystems is expected to continue, with agreed policy objectives unlikely to be met by 2030, the report says.

Similarly, Europe’s water resources are under severe pressure, with water stress affecting one third of Europe’s population and territory. Maintaining healthy aquatic ecosystems, protecting watersheds and ensuring that groundwater resources are replenished is crucial to ensuring Europe’s future water resilience, the report says.

On climate change, Europe is the fastest-warming continent on the planet. The climate is changing at an alarming rate, threatening security, public health, ecosystems, infrastructure and the economy. The increasing frequency and magnitude of climate-related disasters, as well as the knowledge that the climate will continue to change even with the EU’s ambitious mitigation efforts, underscore the urgent need to adapt the European society and economy, while at the same time ensuring that no one is left behind.

These top challenges call for a need to rethink the links between our economy and the natural environment, land, water and natural resources, the report says. Only by restoring the natural environment in Europe will it be possible to maintain a competitive economy and a high quality of life for European citizens.

Scaling up and out –

Transformative change to production and consumption systems — decarbonising the economy, shifting towards circularity, reducing pollution and exercising responsible stewardship of natural resources — is urgently required, the report says. EU policies, including the Green Deal, provide a clear pathway towards sustainability.

The report points specifically at efforts to restore habitats through nature-based solutions, which will build resilience and also help climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. It also emphasises the need to decarbonise key economic sectors, especially transport, and to address emissions from agriculture. Increasing circularity has the potential to reduce Europe’s dependency on imports of energy and critical raw materials. Further, investing in digital and green transition of European industry, Europe can enhance productivity and become a global leader in green innovation, developing technologies to decarbonise hard-to-abate industries like steel and cement.

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