Fighting climate change, preserving our environment, acting against global warming… Climate action has been at the heart of the EU’s mission for decades. Let’s take a look at some milestones.

EU politics

climate change

Environment

Timeline: European climate action

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of current EU concerns, but that's not new.

European countries started acting in the '70s...

To reduce pollution, improve natural and urban environments

and promote awareness of ecological problems,

the first environmental action programme.

In 1987, the Single European Act made protecting health,

natural resources and the environment an EU goal.

Next came the European Environment Agency in 1990.

It informs people about and helps monitor

Environmental issues became a fully integrated

EU policy area with the Maastricht Treaty in 1993.

It also strengthened the European Parliament's role

But this was not enough to tackle climate change.

made sustainable development a key objective.

It became obligatory to integrate environmental protection

into all EU policies, like agriculture, transport or regional policy.

So far so good, but the roll out of EU environment policies

So, in 2001, Parliament adopted minimum standards

for environmental inspections, punishing serious offences

like illegal emissions, wildlife trade or the dumping of waste.

It aims to keep the rise in global temperatures well below 2°C

to try and limit the effects of climate change.

Four years later, the European Parliament took an historic stand.

"Europe is the first continent in the world

to declare a state of environmental and climate emergency."

The Commission responded, presenting the Green Deal,

an ambitious road map to a climate-neutral Europe.

In 2020, the EU proposed a European Climate Law,

setting in stone the goal to reduce greenhouse gases

"The European Climate Law is indeed the cornerstone

of the European Green Deal, as it enshrines into legislation

greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at the latest."

2021 to 2030: the 8th environmental action programme

will focus on accelerating the transition to climate neutrality,

to clean and efficient energies and to a circular economy.