Environmental protection

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Non-profit, Government & Organizations

4.8 • 13 Ratings

🗓️ 9 November 2018

⏱️ 6 minutes

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Summary

Through its environmental policy, the EU has been improving Europeans' well-being since 1972. To make sure that by 2050 we are living well, within the limits of the planet, the EU is striving to move towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient economy, to safeguard biodiversity and to protect human health through legislation on air quality, chemicals, climate, nature, waste and water. In a recent poll conducted for the European Parliament, three quarters of EU citizens expressed support for increased EU action on environmental protection.
Since 2014, efforts have been made in a number of areas, including waste management (for example new recycling targets, restrictions on plastic carrier bags, action on plastics, measures to tackle marine litter); climate (for example the 2030 greenhouse gas emission targets, and measures to decarbonise the transport sector); nature (primarily to improve the way EU rules on biodiversity protection are implemented); and air quality (new rules on maximum amounts of five key air pollutants that EU countries can emit into the atmosphere).
The European Parliament has advocated ambitious policies in many of these areas. In the future, EU environment and climate spending is expected to rise.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2018/628233/EPRS_BRI(2018)628233_EN.pdf

Source: © European Union - EP

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcast on environmental protection.
0:07.0	EU efforts to improve our environment and thus our quality of life are bearing fruit. Today we enjoy
0:12.4	cleaner air and water than we did some decades ago. But the outlook for the European environment
0:17.0	20 years from now shows a bleak picture. That's why the European Union is pushing not only for stronger action, but also for more
0:23.8	money to ensure that by 2050, we are living well within the limits of our planet.
0:28.4	Want to know more? Stay with us.
0:31.9	The European Union has actually been protecting the environment since the early 1970s,
0:36.4	since it understood that a healthy
0:38.0	environment is a precondition for a healthy and prosperous economy and society.
0:42.2	Since then, it has legislated on a wide range of areas from air and water to chemicals,
0:47.2	waste, climate and nature, and since 2014, it has redoubled its efforts on a number of areas.
0:52.7	Let's give you a few examples.
0:54.5	On air quality, for instance, the EU adopted new rules in 2016,
0:58.3	setting maximum amounts of five key air pollutants that countries can emit into the atmosphere.
1:03.4	The aim is to have the number of premature deaths linked to air pollution by 2030.
1:08.1	To help fight climate change, EU legislation limits greenhouse gas emissions from
1:12.5	factories and power plants under the emissions trading scheme, as well as emissions from other
1:17.0	sectors such as agriculture and road transport. But transport remains a big source of greenhouse
1:22.1	gas. So to decarbonise the sector, the Commission presented a European strategy for low-emission
1:27.4	mobility in
1:28.2	2016. Parliament and Council have also passed new laws tightening EU waste rules, for example,
1:34.0	introducing new recycling targets and limiting the use of plastic bags, and they're currently
	...

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