The European Commission has acknowledged “insufficient” action to tackle climate change after the EU’s statistics office showed little has been achieved overall since 2015.
Progress towards the EU’s climate and energy targets has stalled, as has the shift towards a circular economy.
That’s one of the findings of the latest report by the EU statistics office Eurostat, which suggests there was no progress for climate action during the last five years.
Although there has been an 18.9% increase in renewable energy consumption since 2013, the report shows the greenhouse intensity of the overall energy use has risen.
In the monitoring report, trends also demonstrate pressures on ecosystems and biodiversity have been increasing in some areas.
The climate-related economic losses in 2017 were €12.1 billion (£10bn), despite the fact that Europe has spent more than €19 billion (£17.1bn) in environmental projects.
The European bloc’s carbon dioxide emissions were reduced by 2.7% from 2013 to 2018 but temperatures kept rising, according to figures.