While the full impact of the pandemic is still being assessed, it is already clear that cities currently face a triple challenge, according to the EEA briefing ‘Urban sustainability in Europe – opportunities in challenging times’.
The EEA briefing says that cities can become major driving forces for a green and just recovery.
The EEA also published a report‘ Urban Sustainability in Europe — What is driving cities’ environmental change’, which explores work on what could make up a benchmark on how cities evaluate key drivers of and barriers to urban sustainability transitions.
Taking this into account will be increasingly important for policymakers, city planners, citizens, non-governmental organisations, academics and other actors in planning urban environmental sustainability and in implementing European Union legislation and initiatives, such as the European Green Deal, Climate law, Biodiversity strategy and the EU Urban agenda.
The briefing and report are part of a series of products the EEA will publish over the coming months on urban environmental sustainability.