Central to the achievement of the Agenda for Sustainable Development is an adequate, equitably distributed and fully supported health workforce. Nurses are the largest occupational group and represent an indispensable force with which to combat inequities in access to health services and progress towards health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), while …
The EU Commission has published the 2019 edition of its annual Employment and Social Developments in Europe review, that provides up-to-date economic analysis of employment and social trends in Europe and discusses related policy options. This year’s report is dedicated to the theme of sustainability, and confirms the continued expansion …
Hundreds of firefighters battled on Saturday to contain wildfires in southern France as a stifling heat wave brought record-breaking temperatures to parts of Europe, killing at least three people in Italy. In the Gard region, where France’s highest temperature on record was registered on Friday at 45.9 degrees Celsius, scores …
Remote sensing is one technique used to measure real-world NOx emissions in Europe. Remote sensing measurements conducted by the Canton of Zurich are unique in terms of how consistently they have been collected since 2000 and the steep road grade at the main remote sensing monitoring site. This paper compares …
This report analyses how and why the EU Large Combustion Plants Directive was successful in reducing emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and dust in the period from 2004 to 2015.
While the Dieselgate scandal raised awareness of defeat devices—software calibrations that manipulate pollutant emission controls when vehicles are in the real world—third-party evaluation remains difficult because these devices are embedded in sophisticated computer code. To aid in detection by governments and third parties, this new white paper offers a practical, …
The report Creating an Energy Efficient Mortgage for Europe: The Supporting Role of the Green Building Sector sets out roadmap for market development with potential to transform millions of buildings across Europe. In order to grow the market so that energy efficient mortgages will be made available to every borrower …
The EEA assessment ‘Adaptation challenges and opportunities for the European energy system’ analyses the needs for climate change adaptation and climate resilience in Europe’s energy system now and in the future. This assessment supports the clean energy transition, which involves a massive expansion of renewable energy sources, many of which …
We use 2010–2015 observations of atmospheric methane columns from the GOSAT satellite instrument in a global inverse analysis to improve estimates of methane emissions and their trends over the period, as well as the global concentration of tropospheric OH (the hydroxyl radical, methane's main sink) and its trend. Our inversion …
Vaccines have revolutionized public health, preventing millions of deaths each year, particularly in childhood. Yet, there is considerable variability in the magnitude and persistence of vaccine-induced immunity. Maintenance of specific antibody is essential for continuity of vaccine-induced serological protection. We conducted a genome-wide association study into the persistence of immunity …
The report assesses bathing water quality in 2018, indicating where the quality of bathing water is expected to be good in 2019. The report was compiled using information from more than 21 000 bathing waters in the 28 EU Member States. It also covers bathing waters in Albania and Switzerland. …
A report reviewing waste prevention policies in Europe with a focus on how these policies approach the issue of plastics and plastic waste. Waste prevention is at the centre of EU waste legislation as it delivers the most effective results in dealing with environmental issues around waste. EU or national …
A report by experts from 27 national science academies has set out the widespread damage global heating is already causing to people’s health and the increasingly serious impacts expected in future. Scorching heatwaves and floods will claim more victims as extreme weather increases but there are serious indirect effects too, …
Atmospheric researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) have now developed a climate model that can accurately depict the frequently observed winding course of the jet stream, a major air current over the Northern Hemisphere. Atmospheric researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz …
BNP Paribas has been one of the world’s largest banking institutions leading the global financial divestment movement. In October 2017, the bank announced that it was cutting ties with and ceasing all investment in “pipelines that primarily carry oil and gas from shale and/or oil from tar sands” and similarly …
France’s health and safety regulator has decided to ban a widely used crop fungicide after classifying it as a so-called endocrine disruptor posing risks for humans and the environment. The ANSES agency said on Tuesday it was withdrawing the marketing license for 76 products containing epoxiconazole, which is commonly applied …
An international team of scientists identified the snake and its range, which includes Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Iraq, Iran, and Russia including a small region extending into the corner of Europe. Based on the genetic and morphological data, the researchers were able to say that the Blotched Rat Snake (Elaphe …
People across Europe will need to work drastically fewer hours to avoid disastrous climate heating unless there is a radical decarbonising of the economy, according to a study. The research, from thinktank Autonomy, shows workers in the UK would need to move to nine-hour weeks to keep the country on …
The EU’s global climate leadership is at stake as a new political cycle begins amid increasingly polarised public opinion. Climate-sceptic far right parties are surging in polls ahead of European Parliament elections 23-26 May, while on the streets, activists are demanding emergency measures to prevent climate chaos. In the middle, …
Maintaining 'natural capital', i.e. ecosystems and the services they provide, is fundamental to human economic activity and well-being. The need to conserve and enhance natural capital is therefore an explicit policy target in the EU's Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 and its Seventh Environment Action Programme. Approaches to measuring the stocks …
The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), which co-produces the Global Sustainable Development Report (formerly SDG Index and Dashboards), in partnership with the Brabant Center for Sustainable Development (Telos, Tilburg University), released the first-ever SDG Index and Dashboards Report for European Cities. The report compares the performance of capital cities and …
