A report named ”Environmental pressures from European consumption and production” has been made by the European Environmental Agency where they describes methods for quantifying environmental pressures caused by European consumption patterns and economic production sectors. The report measures four different types of environmental pressures; raw material use, greenhouse gas emissions, acidifying air emissions, and air pollutants which lead to harmful ground-level ozone. Four production sectors are featured as the main contributors to these types of environmental pressures: agriculture, electricity production, transport services and some basic manufacturing industries (refinery and chemical products, non-metallic mineral products, basic metals).
Friends of the Earth has recently published a report in a similar context called ”Hidden Impacts – How Europe’s resource overconsumption promotes global land conflicts”. However, in this report it is highlighted that Europe’s land footprint is one of the largest in the world, contributing heavily to climate change, biodiversity loss, land grabbing and tenure conflicts. FoE has also created an infographic showing how much of a country’s demand for agricultural land is met outside its borders.
Written by Anneli Sundin, 20/03/2013
Hidden Impacts – How Europe’s resource overconsumption promotes global land conflicts
Environmental pressures from European consumption and production