{"id":468453,"date":"2025-10-02T12:51:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T12:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/468453\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T12:51:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T12:51:12","slug":"european-way-of-life-is-under-threat-new-environmental-report-is-grim-reading-for-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/468453\/","title":{"rendered":"‘European way of life is under threat\u2019: New environmental report is grim reading for Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLIMATE change is threatening the European way of life despite \u2018significant advances\u2019 in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, an alarming new report has warned.<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the European Environment Agency\u2019s (EEA) latest five-yearly \u2018State of the Environment\u2019 report, Europe is on the frontline of the ongoing climate emergency as the world\u2019s fastest-warming continent.<\/p>\n

But while Europe is a global leader in pushing down emissions and reducing pollution, the new 288-page study \u2013 using data gathered from 38 countries \u2013 concludes that the state of the continent\u2019s environment is \u2018not good\u2019.<\/p>\n

The report highlights serious concerns about biodiversity loss in both land and marine environments, the overexploitation of resources and unsustainable patterns of consumption \u2013 especially in the food system.<\/p>\n

Shining a light on the worrying condition of Europe\u2019s natural environments, just 28% of protected species and a mere 15% of protected habitats are reportedly in \u2018good condition\u2019.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Spanish schools to give pupils lessons on surviving environmental disasters driven by climate change<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Water scarcity is emerging as a key issue throughout Europe. Credit: Cordon Press<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the average European consumes a whopping 14 tonnes of resources per year \u2013 far higher than the UN recommendation of 7-9 tonnes.<\/p>\n

Water scarcity is also becoming an issue as extreme temperatures driven by climate change increase the frequency and severity of drought conditions \u2013 a problem Spain knows all too well.<\/p>\n

Some 34% of the European population and 30% of territories are currently impacted.<\/p>\n

At the heart of the report is a call to protect natural resources with better and more responsible management of land, helping to secure the future of vital societal functions built on nature, such as food security, the availability of fresh drinking water and the strength of flood defences.<\/p>\n

It urges lawmakers not to roll back on key pieces of environmental legislation \u2013 and warns that a volatile political landscape, such as the war in Ukraine, has diverted valuable investment away from green measures.<\/p>\n

Leena Yl\u00e4-Mononen, the executive director of the EEA, said: \u201cWe cannot afford to lower our climate, environment and sustainability ambitions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur state of environment report, co-created with 38 countries, clearly sets out the science-based knowledge and demonstrates why we need to act.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Sanchez tell sceptics \u2018climate change kills\u2019 as he announces plan to tackle rising wildfires and flooding in Spain<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The_miteco_teresa_ribera_2018\"Former Spanish deputy prime minister Teresa Ribera was one of the key figures behind the report, released last week. Credit: Cordon Press<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the European Union, we have the policies, the tools and the knowledge, and decades of experience in working together towards our sustainability goals. What we do today will shape our future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The current executive vice-president for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition is Teresa Ribera, until last year one of Spain\u2019s deputy prime ministers and Pedro Sanchez\u2019s minister for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge of Spain.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cThis report is a stark reminder that Europe must stay the course and even accelerate our climate and environmental ambitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecent extreme weather events show how fragile our prosperity and security become when nature is degraded, and climate impacts intensify.<\/p>\n

\u201cDelaying or postponing our climate targets would only increase costs, deepen inequalities, and weaken our resilience.<\/p>\n

\u201cProtecting nature is not a cost. It is an investment in competitiveness, resilience and the well-being of our citizens. By scaling up action now, we can build a cleaner, fairer and more resilient Europe for future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The full report can be found here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to read more Spain News<\/a> from The Olive Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLIMATE change is threatening the European way of life despite \u2018significant advances\u2019 in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[4675,2311,2000,299,156170,112225,1699,1984,18104,8626,104,156171,7162,18106,7498],"class_list":{"0":"post-468453","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-biodiversity","9":"tag-climate-change","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-europe-climate-change","13":"tag-european-environment-agency","14":"tag-european-union","15":"tag-global-warming","16":"tag-news-spain","17":"tag-newspaper","18":"tag-spain","19":"tag-spain-drought","20":"tag-teresa-ribera","21":"tag-the-olive-press","22":"tag-un"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115304666738253911","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}