A new study published on Wednesday in Nature Sustainability has revealed that European Union (EU) consumers export negative environmental impacts to their Eastern European neighbours, but keep the bulk of economic benefits linked to consuming goods and services.
Although the environmental impacts of EU consumption are felt around the world, countries in Eastern Europe have experienced the highest environmental pressures and impacts associated with EU citizens’ consumption, the study shows.
Findings in the study that was carried out by an international group of researchers, are based on certain environmental indicators between 1995 and 2019.
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Greenhouse gas emissions, material consumption, land use, consumption of surface and ground water, particulate matter formation, photochemical oxidation and biodiversity loss due to land coverage, as well as freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecotoxicity were among the indicators used in the research.
According to the researchers, ecotoxicity indicators, greenhouse gas emissions, particulate matter formation, photochemical oxidation and material consumption, which were analysed for their pressures and impacts increased notably outside the EU, while decreasing within the bloc.
“For the sake of our planet, environmental pressures and impacts from EU consumption need to decrease substantially – reducing the export of environmental damage beyond the borders of the wealthy EU states to poorer regions.
“The benefits of EU consumption are greater for most member countries than those outside the Union, whilst inducing higher environmental pressures and impacts for the EU’s eastern neighbours such as Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Ukraine and Moldova,” corresponding author Yuli Shan, associate Professor in Sustainable Transitions at the University of Birmingham, was quoted to have said.
Eastern Europe consistently ranked as the region receiving the lowest share of economic value added compared to environmental pressures and impacts associated with EU consumption.
While pressures and impacts induced by EU consumption dropped in most of its member states within the period of study and Austria, Czechia, Italy, Poland, Romania and Slovenia all saw decreases in nine of ten analysed environmental pressures and impacts’, all analysed impacts and pressures associated with EU consumption increased in Brazil, China, India, Japan, as well as in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
The other corresponding author Klaus Hubacek, Professor at the University of Groningen, said: “We can reduce environmental pressures and impacts associated with EU over-consumption in a number of ways, including changing how people travel or their dietary choices, and creating new EU trade policies that lower environmental pressures and impacts associated with goods and services.”
Story was adapted from Environnewsnigeria.
