Listen: EU climate watchdog report finds most green targets off track for 2030

A new flagship report from the European Environment Agency says that the continent is struggling to meet most of its 2030 climate and environmental targets.

While Europe has managed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 37 percent since 1990, more than the US or China, almost everything else looks grim.

With water scarcity threatening one in three Europeans, heatwaves scorching the south and governments rolling back green rules, how much longer can Europe afford to delay climate action before the damage becomes irreversible?

Production: By Europod, in co-production with Sphera Network.

EUobserver is proud to have an editorial partnership with Europod to co-publish the podcast series “Long Story Short” hosted by Evi Kiorri. The podcast is available on all major platforms.

You can find the transcript here if you prefer reading:

A new flagship report from the European Environment Agency says that the continent is struggling to meet most of its 2030 climate and environmental targets. While Europe has managed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 37 percent since 1990, more than the US or China, almost everything else looks grim.
With water scarcity threatening one in three Europeans, heatwaves scorching the south and governments rolling back green rules, how much longer can Europe afford to delay climate action before the damage becomes irreversible?

More than 80 percent of protected habitats are in poor or bad condition. Europe’s forests, once a reliable carbon sink, have lost around 30 percent of their absorption capacity in just a decade because of logging, wildfires and pests. Emissions from food and transport haven’t really budged since 2005. Water stress now affects one in three Europeans and will only get worse.

Biodiversity is collapsing, 60 percent of species are in poor condition and the EU has already missed its target to halt biodiversity loss by 2020. And yet, despite record floods in Valencia last year or wildfires in southern Europe every summer, member states are still failing to adapt to extreme weather at the pace required.

So yes, Europe has saved lives by cutting air pollution. But out of 22 environmental policy targets for 2030, only two are on track.

The findings from the European Environment Agency are blunt, especially about the very foundations of Europe’s economy and quality of life. Healthy ecosystems regulate water, feed us, protect us from disasters and without them, our so-called European way of life starts to look very fragile.

And yet, the political response is weak. Instead of doubling down, many EU leaders are rowing back on green rules in the name of “competitiveness” and “simplification”, which leads to deregulation. Far-right parties who openly deny climate science are gaining ground, and even allies across the Atlantic, like the US government, are pushing Europe to buy fossil fuels and relax standards on imports.

The irony is hard to miss. EU officials warn that the real threat to Europe’s competitiveness comes not from climate action, but from climate inaction. Every flood, every drought, every wildfire carries a financial toll. In Slovenia last year, floods caused damages worth 16 percent of the country’s GDP. If that’s not an economic burden, I don’t know what is.

So what now?

The report says it clearly, Europe needs to step up. That means enforcing existing laws, not watering them down. It means finally addressing unsustainable consumption and production, because recycling rates creeping up by one percentage point in a decade is not a strategy. It means investing in adaptation so homes, farms and hospitals can withstand the reality of extreme weather.
The choice, as some EU officials put it is simple to either act now, or pay much more later. Sustainability is not about luxury after all, it’s survival.

So while Brussels debates “simplification” and competitiveness, the real long story is that without a liveable environment, there is no economy, and there certainly isn’t a European way of life left to defend.