Policy

The Earth’s ecosystems are in decline, putting their ability to provide the ecosystem services on which the world’s economies rely at risk. Unless we reverse these trends, the implications for human wellbeing are profound. Although the depth of humankind’s reliance on nature cannot be fully captured in a single economic metric, such as gross domestic product (GDP), analysing changes in GDP does provide meaningful, and alarming, insights into changes in human wellbeing. This report presents the first full set of results from the Global Futures project developed by WWF. The study analyses the loss of ecosystem services using a new model that combines a global economic model with a high-resolution ecosystem services model, generating results that are relevant for both global scale and local, landscape-level analysis.

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The 2019 Human Development Report – Beyond income, beyond averages, beyond today: Inequalities in human development in the 21st century is the latest in the series of global Human Development Reports published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since 1990. The reports deal with major development issues, and provide sound scientifically based discussions. This edition focuses in particular on inequalities, as in every country still many people have little prospect for a better future. Despite many have managed to escape extreme poverty worldwide, even more do not have the opportunities nor the resources to control their place in society due to different social inequalities such as gender, ethnicity or wealth.

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On the 11th of December, while COP25 was taking place in Madrid, European Commission (EC) President Ursula Von der Leyen outlined the new European Green Deal (EGD) proposal. The EGD package aims to couple economic growth and increased wellbeing with care for the environment with the great ambition of becoming the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. It identifies an opportunity for economic growth and increased social welfare in the current climate challenge. The package of measures also includes a roadmap of key policy actions such as cutting emissions, investing in research and innovation and preserving Europe’s environment.

In this context, it is crucial that all stakeholders are involved in the process of transition, to make it just and socially fair. From this concept stems the famous phrase, used by UN Member States when adopting the Agenda 2030: “Leave no one behind”.

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This report focuses on the physical effects of our changing climate. Current and future risks are assessed within a 30 year time span and case studies are used to analyse and understand the mechanisms through which physical climate change leads to increased socioeconomic risk. Impacts are also explored with estimates on probabilities and magnitude of potential impacts. The aim is to inform decision makers worldwide to allow them to better assess, adapt to, and mitigate the physical risks of climate change.

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Original Source: WEF website

The SOER report is published by the EEA every five years. SOER 2020 is the 6th SOER published by the EEA since 1995. Prepared in close collaboration with the EEA’s European Environment Information and Observation Network (Eionet), it offers science-based insights on the huge and complex challenges the global community is now faced with, such as climate change, biodiversity loss and air and water pollution. Although EU environment and climate policies have made great advancements in the last years, Europe is still facing important problems in areas such as biodiversity loss, resource use, climate change impacts and environmental risks to health and well-being. We need to deliver more ambitious and quick responses to such challenges to be able to achieve the long-term sustainability goals to which we have committed. The upcoming decade is decisive in determining our opportunities to change the current trends.

Source: EEA