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Two points

1. From local to global consumer – the challenge of rising and unsustainable consumption

2. What can we do to reach sustainable consumption and production in Europe?

Policies & tools

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From local to global consumer – the challenge of rising and unsustainable consumption

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Unsustainable consumption and production

Many environmental pressures are growing: GHG emissions, water and air pollution, land use, resource use, waste amounts etc.

Impacts are growing in Europe - and in other regions of the world

Impacts from all phases of the production – consumption chain

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World trade is a driving force of resource and energy consumption

Source: WTO, 2003: Growth of world trade. World merchandise exports (volume index = value deflated by unit value).

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EU-25 use of world biocapacity compared to population share

Source: EEA/GFN, 2005: Global ecological overshoot

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Decoupling resource use from economic growth? Relative - not absolute

Decoupling resource use from GDP in EU15

Material consumption in EU25 amounts to 16.5 t per person per year on average in EU25 (all fossil fuels, minerals and biomass)

GDP

Energy cons.

DMCEMC GHG

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Europe’s footprint and biocapacity (per capita)

Source: EEA/GFN, 2005: Europe’s ecological footprint and biocapacity

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Footprint by component (EU-25)

The biocapacity necessary for coping with CO2 emissions from fossil fuel and generation of energy makes up more than 50% of the total footprint

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European consumption patterns are changing

Figure 2.1. Household expenditure per capita in EU15 Member States

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

1990 1995 2000 2002

Euro

/capita (

1995 c

onsta

nt

prices)

Other goods and services

Health

Recreation, culture andrestaurantsTransport andcommunicationHousing

Clothing

Food and drink

Source: Eurostat 2005 Note: Data for Denmark; Germany; Greece ; France; Ireland; Italy; Netherlands; Austria; Portugal; Finland; United Kingdom (1995 Euro constant prices)

Household expenditure projected to double by 2030

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Energy consumption by sector (EU-25)

Services, agric. etc

Households

Industry

Transport

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What can we do to reach sustainable consumption

and production in Europe?

Policies & tools

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Act integrated

Global responsibility not to destroy other regions of the world (Rio, Johannesburg and Marrakech)

Re-inforce public and private sector expenditure on research and development in the environment domain to help Europe compete globally

More environmental integration needed in sectors

Technological improvements are necessary - but not sufficient. The benefits include Europe’s economy becoming more resource efficient – EU-10 already has the scope to improve efficiency by a factor of 4 to EU-15 levels

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Act integrated (cont.)

Design long-term, coherent policies that shift market signals towards sustainable production and consumption

Environmental tax reform: From taxing the ”goods” (employment) to taxing the ”bads” (resource use and environmental damage)

Improve institutional set-ups to design and implement integrated approaches. Such set-ups can be as important as policies themselves (ex. effectiveness of UWWTD in selected countries in Europe).

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Example: Improving energy and resource productivity

Labour costs constitute about 20% of total costs in manufacturing in EU-25. Material and energy costs can be up to 50%

Labour productivity

Materials productivity

Energy productivity

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Example:Environmental tax reform in the EU 1995 - 2003

Source: Eurostat

Green tax shift EU-25, 1995-2003

Energy taxes

Labour taxes

Energy consumption/GDP

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Example: Tax bases in EEA-17 (2004)Austria Belgium Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Italy Lux'burg NL Norw ay Portugal Spain Sw eden UK

Air/EnergyCO2*SO2NOxFuelsS in fuels

TransportCar sales and useDiff. annual car tax

WaterWater eff luents

WasteWaste-endDangerous w aste

NoiseAviation noise

ProductsTyresBeverage cont.PackagingBagsPesticidesCFCsBatteriesLight bulbsPVC/phtalatesLubrication oilFertilisersPaper, boardSolvents

ResourcesRaw materials

in 1996 new in 2000 new in 2004

Sources, including:EEA (2000) Environmental taxes - Redent developments in tools for integration, CopenhagenOECD/EU database for environmental taxes (http://www1.oecd.org/env/policies/taxes/index.htm)

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Example: Progress with urban waste water treatment

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We need tools to diagnose society’s health

Better and complementary methods for measuring the extent and impacts of our society’s use of natureThe EEA and its Scientific Committee want to help further develop the Ecological Footprint (EF), Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP), and relevant elements of the System of Environmental and Economic Accounts (SEEA). We consider it as a package, carefully managed and communicated, that such methods and indicators can best serve to improve our understanding of how human population use nature and the impacts that result

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To conclude

Consumption growth outweighs efficiency gains: Key environmental impacts grow

We have shifted our ecological demand to other countries while safeguarding more of our own ecological resources in Europe

Market-based instruments and environmental tax reform needed to achieve sustainable consumption and production are necessary but not sufficient.

We need better tools to diagnose the health of society.

Further information:http://www.eea.europa.eu

Gorm. Dige@eea.eu.int

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The European Environment Agency (EEA)

EU institution in Copenhagen since 1994

Provide decision-makers with information needed for sound and effective policies to protect the environment and support sustainable development

32 member countries: EU-25, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein; Switzerland

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The European Environment – State and outlook 2005 report on the web

Full report – one pdf file per chapterExecutive summary in 25 languagesPress release in 25 languagesSpeechesPress conference (video)Flash animationPowerpoint presentation

www.eea.eu.int