Despite slight improvements, the air in European countries is still very polluted. This pollution caused 417,000 premature deaths in 2018, according to the European Environment Agency, and the pollutants released by industry cost the continent between 280 and 430 billion euros per year in damages on the health and the environment.
The Agency has also published a ranking of the cities where we breathe the best. At the bottom of the list, there are cities in Poland or the Po plain in Italy. And at the very top there is the town of Umeå, almost 100,000 inhabitants, north of Sweden. The clean air of Umeå is the result of an environmental policy very complete as shown in this report by Frédéric Faux.
Northern Europe is rightly known to be far ahead on environmental issues. Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, was designated the green capital of the European Union in 2023. But here are too many cars, projects that never see the light of day … Critics fuse following this appointment. The explanations of our correspondent in the Baltic States, Marielle Vitureau.
► Also to listen : Waste, pollution: is Europe doing enough for the environment?
Green spaces, public transport, Vienna is also supposed to be one of the green capitals, yet would not Austria’s first city rest on its laurels? Vienna has made the environment a priority in recent years, but the Greens have left city hall, and many wonder if the issue is still of the same importance.. Some answers with Céline Béal.
This is my Europe! A column by Alice Rouja who talks to us today about eco-anxiety. This new disease mainly affects young people who feel helpless and experience a level of pathological anxiety in the face of the significant consequences of climate disturbances and uncertainty for the future of the planet.
An english breakfast without bacon? An English breakfast without bacon? Oh my God ! The UK is already short of truck drivers and nurses, but now there is a shortage of butchers. And the pork trade is in turn threatened by the consequences of Brexit. The labor shortage in slaughterhouses has forced farmers to slaughter their pigs and have them cremated … A report from our correspondent in London, Marie Billon.
(RE-BROADCAST)