European Environment Agency

The European Environment Agency (EEA) is a regulatory agency of the European Union. The EEA is responsible for providing independent information on the environment, information that supports the citizen and those involved in developing, adopting, applying and evaluating environmental policies.

The EEA is governed by a Management Board, made up of representatives of the governments of its 33 member countries, the European Commission and the European Parliament.

The EEA was legally established by regulation, Regulation (EEC) No. 1210/1990. This regulation has undergone several subsequent modifications in 1999 and was codified (recast in the Spanish legislative tradition) in 2009. After the legal creation of the Agency, a group of experts launched it, to become an operational body in 1994, establishing its headquarters in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, where it still operates.

The Agency has an Executive Director, currently Hans Bruyninckx, who was appointed for a 5-year term beginning in July 2013, later extended for another term, concluding his term definitively in 2023. Mr. Bruyninckx replaced Jacqueline McGlade in her position, who in turn replaced Domingo Jiménez-Beltrán.

The Agency currently has 32 full members and 6 partner countries. The Agency partners with its member and collaborating countries in the so-called European Environmental Information and Observation Network (Eionet). The Agency acts as coordinator of the network, being equally responsible for its development and activities. The Eionet network is structured by so-called National Focal Points (NFPs) and Eionet Groups, which focus on specific environmental issues. The NFPs and the Eionet Groups constitute a dense network of contacts that involve close to 350 different institutions.

The Agency is also an active member of the Network of European Environmental Agencies, known as the EPA Network.

History

Starting in the 1970s, the Member States of the European Union began to coordinate their environmental initiatives, increasingly adapting their policies, as a result of the recognition that problems such as air or water pollution demand a coordinated action. Finally, the regulation by which the EEA was created was adopted by the European Community (predecessor of the European Union) in 1990, and entered into force in 1993, although it did not begin to work at full capacity until 1994.

The EU and the coronavirus disease pandemic

In 2020, the EEA stated that the coronavirus disease pandemic, which has plunged the European Union into an unprecedented crisis, will have a considerable impact “on production and consumption schemes, such as reducing demand in terms of transport, specifically international air traffic and the daily movements of private vehicles”. However, he considered that to understand the scope of the effects, data from different areas must be analyzed after the crisis, so he plans to evaluate the interrelationships of the data and share the results of these analyzes in a timely manner. He also recalled that the EU aspires to achieve climate neutrality through "a gradual and irreversible reduction of emissions and through the establishment of long-term objectives".

In this context, the proposal regarding the European Climate Law, an essential element of the European Green Deal, raises the EU's ambitions in this area, and foresees how progress towards climate neutrality will be periodically evaluated, based, among other things, on in the reports produced by the EEA.

Members

The EEA has 32 full members and 5 partner countries. The countries with full rights are the 27 states that make up the European Union as well as Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Turkey under a special treaty. The EEA's founding regulations allow its membership to extend beyond that of the European Union, as long as non-EU countries share its concern for the environment.

European Network for Environmental Information and Observation (Eionet)

The European Environmental Information and Observation Network (Eionet) is a network between the EEA and its member and partner countries. The Agency is responsible for developing this network and coordinating its activities. To do this, it works very closely with the National Focal Points (NFPs), which are usually the national environmental agencies or the environment ministries of the member countries.

The National Focal Points are responsible for the coordination of the Eionet Groups and, together, bring together about 1000 experts from more than 350 national institutions and other bodies in charge of environmental information.

Apart from these Focal Points and Groups, Eionet currently includes eight European Thematic Centers on:

1. Adaptation to Climate Change and LULUCF
2. Combating Climate Change
3. Data integration and digitalization
4. Human health and environment
5. Circular economy and use of natural resources
6. Transitions for sustainability
7. Biodiversity
8. Marine, coastal and sweet water

EEA Organization

The EEA is governed by a Board of Directors and by a Board of Directors. It also has a Scientific Committee that acts as an advisory body. The Executive Director is accountable to the Management Board for the implementation of the programs and the day-to-day management of the EEA.

The EEA's work plan is structured around a 2030 Strategy and 3-year multi-annual Programmes.

The Board of Directors and the Bureau of the Board

The Board of Directors is made up of a representative of each member country, two representatives of the Commission and two scientific personalities appointed by the European Parliament. Among its tasks is the approval of the Multiannual Work Programme, the annual work programs and the annual reports, as well as the appointment of the Executive Director and the members of the Scientific Committee.

The Bureau is made up of a President, up to five Vice-Presidents, a representative of the Commission and one of the members designated by the European Parliament. It is empowered to take executive decisions, necessary for the effective functioning of the Agency in the interim periods between the meetings of the Management Board.

The CEO

The Executive Director is responsible to the Management Board for the implementation of the programs and the day-to-day management of the EEA. The following table includes those persons who have held the position of Executive Director since the creation of the Agency.

Hans Bruyninckx has been the Executive Director of the European Environment Agency since June 1, 2013. Dr. Bruyninckx was born in Schote (Belgium) in 1964, he studied undergraduate and master's degrees in political science, within the specializing in international relations, at the University of Antwerp and at the KU Leuven University. In addition, he completed an additional development studies program at the Catholic University of Leuven.

Management Team

The Management Team consists of the Executive Director and Program Managers, and meets regularly to manage the day-to-day business of the EEA.

All agency staff must respect the "Code of good administrative conduct” in their relations with the public, which is complemented by the Policy for the management and prevention of conflicts of interest and the Anti-fraud Strategy.

The Scientific Committee

The Scientific Committee advises the Board of Directors and the Executive Director. It has three main functions:

• issue an opinion on the multi-year and annual work programmes of the AEMA
• issue an opinion for the Executive Director for the purpose of recruiting the Agency’s scientific staff
• provide advice and opinions on any scientific issue relating to the Agency ' s activity that may be submitted by the Governing Council or the Executive Director

Organizational structure

The Agency is structured into Programs, there are currently 8 programs covering the following areas:

1. Programme for Coordination, Networks and Strategy
2. Programme of Administrative Services
3. Communication Programme
4. Sustainability Transition Program
5. Information Services and Data Management Programme
6. Biodiversity and Ecosystems Program
7. Climate Change, Energy and Transport Programme
8. Health and sustainable use of natural resources

The Programs are structured in turn in Groups.

The European Environment Agency has approximately 250 employees in 2022.

Reports on the State of the Environment in Europe

The EEA publishes every five years a report on the state and prospects of the environment in Europe. The last report of these characteristics was published in 2015.

The first report of these characteristics, known as the Dobris Report and published in 1992, included information relating to 46 countries, based mainly on data obtained up to 1992. It includes an assessment of the state of the European environment up to then.

The Dobris report was presented at the third conference of environmental ministers of all European countries, which was held in Sofia in October 1995. These conferences sought to establish principles and policies for improving the environment, in order to combine criteria in this regard and achieve a more sustainable pattern of development in Europe.

The constitutive regulation of the Agency codifies the obligation of the EEA to make reports of these characteristics every 5 years.

Article 2(h), Regulation (EC) No. 401/2009

To achieve the objective (...) he will perform the following functions:

(...) (h) issue a report on the situation, trends and environmental perspectives every five years, together with annual indicative reports on specific topics.

Since the creation of the Agency, reports have been published in 1995, 1999, 2005, 2010 and 2015. The 2015 report shows that important progress has been made in the European region in the protection of the environment but, at the same time, important challenges have to be faced.

"In 2015, Europe is halfway between the beginning of environmental policy in the 1970s and the EU's vision for 2050 that "we have to live well but within the limits of the Planet. Under this vision, it is recognized that the economic prosperity of Europe and well-being are intrinsically related to their natural environment."

The reports on the State of the Environment in Europe, known as SOER in its English acronym, have a significant impact on European decision-making circles, both at the level of the Union and in the countries that constitute its membership.