EEA Signals 2009 - Key environmental issues facing Europe

Jan 2009

Signals is published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) at the start of each year and provides snapshot stories on issues of interest both to the environmental policy debate and the wider public for the upcoming year.
The eight stories addressed are not exhaustive but have been selected on the basis of their relevance to the current environmental policy debate in Europe. They address priority issues of climate change, nature and biodiversity, the use of natural resources and health.
One of these stories addresses closely the biofuel issue and the impacts of the rush to biofuel production that took place in recent years. The switch from oil to bioenergy is not risk free. For millennia, people have been burning wood. The industrial revolution in the mid‑1800s brought so called 'fossil fuels', mainly coal and oil, to the fore. However, fossil fuels are becoming more difficult to find and extract, more expensive, and subject to intense political debate.

By: European Environment Agency

 
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