R. Pignatelli, 30 Novembre - 1 Dicembre 2021 - Webinar: La domanda europea e nazionale di informazioni statistiche "green" Titolo: EEA indicators and European policies

1. Roberta Pignatelli
ISTAT – XIV Conferenza nazionale di statistica (30th November – 1st December 2021)
EEA indicators and EU policies

2. Summary
I. I. EEA indicators: context and overview
II. II. Recent developments relevant to policy making
III. III. EEA indicators: evolution and adaptation

3. I. I. EEA indicators: context and overview
II. II. Recent developments relevant to policy making
III. III. EEA indicators: evolution and adaptation

4. I. EEA indicators: context and overview
The European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European Environment
Information and Observation Network (Eionet) provide reliable and independent
information on Europe’s environment and climate to European citizens and
policy-makers
Broad knowledge base
• hundreds of institutions from 38 member and
cooperating countries
• innovative e-reporting infrastructure for data
flows (Reportnet 3)
• capacity to assess progress, prospects, drivers
of change, potential policy responses

5. The current set of EEA indicators
• Significant part of the Agency’s activities concerns the production, use and
dissemination of environmental indicators, which illustrate and communicate
complex phenomena in a simple way
• EEA indicators are developed to respond to key policy questions and to
support all stages of policy-making
72 indicators – 12 environmental topics – 11 sets
Indicators (EEA)
Environmental Indicator Catalogue (Eurostat)

6. • Central role of indicators = bridge between data and wider assessments
• From monitoring to knowledge… to action!
The M-D-I-A-K framework

7. EEA indicators: some features
EEA indicators cover all environmental topics, with particular regard to climate change (26%),
water and marine environment (22%), biodiversity (17%)
Topic Indicators
Water and marine environment 16
Biodiversity - Ecosystems 12
Climate change mitigation 11
Climate change adaptation 8
Air pollution 6
Transport 5
Land use 4
Resource efficiency and waste 3
Energy 3
Soil 2
Agriculture 1
Environment and health 1
Geographical coverage:
• EU-27 (76%)
• EEA-38 (35%)
Update frequency:
• yearly (57%)
• 2-yearly (15%)

8. Categorisation of EEA indicators
By typology (policy-making phase they support):
• Descriptive indicators (‘What’s happening?’) – type A
• Performance indicators (‘Are we reaching targets?’) – type B
• Efficiency indicators (‘Are we improving?’) – type C
• Policy effectiveness indicators (‘Are the measures working?’) – type D
• Total welfare indicators (‘Are we, on the whole, better off?’) – type E
By the Driving forces–Pressure–State–Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework
• Interaction between environment and socio-economic activities
• Consistent with UNSD FDES and OECD conceptualisation of indicators

9. EEA indicators by typology and DPSIR
• Unbalanced distribution by type (65% Descriptive indicators, no Welfare indicators)
• More balanced distribution by DPSIR (1/3 State, 1/3 Pressure, 1/3 others)
• Effort needed for Welfare-Performance-Efficiency indicators as Driving force indicators
Driving
forces
Pressure State Impact Response Total
Descriptive 3 17 16 7 4 47
Performance 1 3 4 0 0 8
Efficiency 1 1 1 2 3 8
Effectiveness 1 1 2 1 4 9
Welfare 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 6 22 23 10 11 72

10. List of EEA indicators
AGRICULTURE: Drought impact on ecosystems in Europe -- AIR POLLUTION: Exceedance of air quality standards in Europe; Emissions of
the main air pollutants in Europe; Exposure of Europe's ecosystems to ozone; Heavy metal emissions in Europe; Industrial pollutant
releases to air in Europe; Persistent organic pollutant emissions -- BIODIVERSITY-ECOSYSTEM: Abundance and distribution of selected
species in Europe; Conservation status of habitats under the EU Habitats Directive; Conservation of species under the EU Habitats
Directive; Ecological footprint of European cities; Ecosystem coverage; Forest: deadwood; Forest: growing stock, increment and fellings;
Nationally designated terrestrial protected areas in Europe; Natura 2000 sites designated under the EU Habitats and Birds Directives;
Public awareness of biodiversity in Europe; Trends in marine non-indigenous species; Vegetation productivity -- CLIMATE CHANGE
IMPACTS, VULNERABILITY AND ADAPTATION: Arctic and Baltic Sea ice; Economic losses from climate-related extremes in Europe;
European sea surface temperature; Extreme sea levels and coastal flooding; Forest fires in Europe; Global and European temperatures;
Ocean oxygen content; Water temperature -- CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION: Atmospheric GHG concentrations; CO2 performance of
new passenger cars in Europe; Electric vehicles as a proportion of the total fleet; GHG emissions from agriculture in Europe; GHG
emissions from energy use in buildings in Europe; GHG emissions from land use, land-use change and forestry in Europe; GHG emission
intensity of electricity generation in Europe; Global and European consumption of ozone-depleting substances; Hydrofluorocarbon
phase-down in Europe; Progress towards national GHG emission targets in Europe; Total GHG emission trends and projections in
Europe -- ENERGY: Emissions and energy use in large combustion plants in Europe; Primary and final energy consumption in Europe;
Share of energy consumption from renewable sources in Europe -- ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH: Exposure of Europe's population to
environmental noise -- LAND USE: Imperviousness and imperviousness change in Europe; Land recycling and densification; Land take in
Europe; Landscape fragmentation pressure and trends in Europe -- RESOURCE EFFICIENCY AND WASTE: Diversion of waste from landfill
in Europe; Waste generation and decoupling in Europe; Waste recycling in Europe -- SOIL: Progress in management of contaminated
sites; Soil moisture deficit -- TRANSPORT: CO2 performance emission of new vans in Europe; Emissions of air pollutants from transport;
GHG emissions from transport in Europe; GHG emission intensity of fuels and biofuels for road transport in Europe -- WATER AND
MARINE ENVIRONMENT: Change in fish distribution in European seas; Chlorophyll in transitional, coastal and marine waters; Ecological
status of surface waters in Europe; Global and European sea-level rise; Hazardous substances in marine organisms; Industrial pollutant
releases to water in Europe; Marine protected areas in Europe's seas; Nutrients in freshwater in Europe; Nutrients in transitional,
coastal and marine waters; Ocean acidification; Oxygen concentrations in European coastal and marine waters; Oxygen consuming
substances in European rivers; Status of marine fish and shellfish stocks in European seas; Urban waste water treatment in Europe; Use
of freshwater resources in Europe; Water intensity of crop production in Europe

11. Support to EU policy monitoring
The EEA contributes to the analysis of the environmental component of
sustainable development
Indicators are most commonly used to
• monitor progress with implementation of policy measures
• assess their effectiveness in terms of relevant environmental outcomes
Increasing calls for EEA to support existing/new EU policy monitoring
frameworks
• EU Sustainable Development Goals
• 8th Environment Action Programme
• European Green Deal and related strategies and initiatives

12. I. I. EEA indicators: context and overview
II. II. Recent developments relevant to policy making
III. III. EEA indicators: evolution and adaptation

13. II - Recent developments relevant to policy-making
In 2019 we anticipated the change of direction in European policy and
launched an indicator revamp exercise
The revised indicators are short information packages that combine a
European picture with national level data and key strategic messages
EEA indicators have a newly consolidated structure
• Less quantity, better quality
• Focus on communication aspects
• Simplification of production workflow
• New Indicator Management System (IMS v4)
• Showing both the European and the country perspective

14. EEA-Eionet Strategy 2021-2030
The new indicators’ structure reflects the focus of the new EEA-Eionet Strategy
– Towards a more integrated knowledge base in support of EU policies
EEA and Eionet will enable a sustainable Europe through trusted and
actionable knowledge for informed decision-making on environment and
climate priorities and solutions, in line with Europe’s policy ambitions
Strategic Objectives:
• Supporting policy implementation and sustainability transitions
• Providing timely input to solutions for sustainability challenges
• Building stronger networks and partnerships
• Making full use of the potential of data, technology & digitalisation
• Resourcing our shared ambitions

15. New areas of work
EEA and Eionet will play a key role in supporting environment and climate
actions under European policies (EGD, 8EAP, EU SDGs, etc.)
Areas of work:
• Biodiversity and ecosystems
• Climate change mitigation and adaptation
• Human health and the environment
• Circular economy and resource use
• Sustainability trends, prospects and responses
We will prioritise understanding of interlinkages
within and between these work areas

16. Role for EEA indicators
EEA indicators continue to constitute the building blocks of environmental
knowledge by
• maintaining the mechanisms in place that lead from data to policy
monitoring
• allowing the development of new methodologies (composite indices,
dashboards, etc.) for monitoring current and future policies and strategies
Further developments in terms of accuracy and timeliness will derive by the
increasing use of Copernicus-based data
Goal: measure and assess progress towards sustainability

17. The European environment – state and outlook 2020
• SOER 2020 – Knowledge for transition to a sustainable Europe
• Some successes, but a discouraging outlook: Europe will not
achieve its 2030 goals without urgent action to address
unprecedented environmental challenges

18. Societal trade-offs between sustainability outcomes

19. I. I. EEA indicators: context and overview
II. II. Recent developments relevant to policy making
III. III. EEA indicators: evolution and adaptation

20. III. EEA indicators: evolution and adaptation
The EGD reflects the need for systemic change and puts sustainability at
the heart of EU policy-making, but we are still in the process of turning
such ambitions into policies and actions
• EEA report Knowledge for Action (Oct. 2021)
provides reflections on how to strengthen
knowledge development, uptake and use
• Boundary organisations like EEA have an
important role to play bridging the gap
between science-policy-society and shaping a
future knowledge system
• Gaps remain in data and indicators to better
support policy implementation

21. 10-year perspective: indicators are here to stay
8th Environment Action Programme
Countries’ perspective (Eionet) is fundamental

22. 10-year perspective: new potential and challenges
• Increased use of Copernicus-based data in EEA indicators
• Increased use of Citizen Science as data source – examples:
• Forest Information System for Europe
• Marine Litter Watch data viewer
Increased cooperation is needed between all actors involved
• Statisticians
• Scientists
• Policy-makers
• Civil society
… at both at European and national level

23. Roberta Pignatelli
Expert – Indicator Management and Development
Integrated Assessments for Sustainability
roberta.pignatelli@eea.europa.eu
Thanks for your attention!