COVID-19 measures have mixed impacts on the environment

According to the EEA Briefing ‘COVID-19 and Europe’s environment: impacts of a global pandemic’, the Coronavirus crisis further highlights the urgent need to address the environmental challenges Europe faces. This will benefit not only the environment, but also our society’s health and well-being. The briefing, compiled from initial research by external and EEA experts, gives a preliminary view of what the Coronavirus pandemic, and resulting government measures to fight it, have meant both for our environment directly, and for EU efforts to shift to a low-carbon future. It considers what we can learn from these effects, and how they might help shape decision-making in the future.

Key findings of the briefing reflect ongoing work to incorporate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic into the different areas of EEA work on the environment and European environmental policy. These topics have also been discussed in a series of high-level online debates on COVID-19 and the environment organised by the EEA.

In order to provide a snapshot of the rapidly changing situation, the briefing relied on a variety of external sources, as well as the valuable work of the European Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET). More COVID-related research studies from EIONET and other EEA partners can be found here: