Informe El medio ambiente en Europa: Estado y perspectivas 2020

PART 3
16.
Understanding
sustainability challenges
16.1
The need to transform European
consumption and production
The EU has achieved unprecedented
levels of prosperity and well-being
during recent decades, and its social,
health and environmental standards
rank among the highest in the world.
These achievements are considerable.
Yet, as outlined in Chapter 15, Europe
today needs to achieve urgent and
fundamental changes in its core systems
of production and consumption if it is
to sustain and enhance its progress
to achieving sustainability goals. Building
on that assessment, this chapter
provides a more detailed analysis of
the need for sustainability transitions
and the challenges that this entails.
16.1.1
Europe’s economy and its
environmental implications
Europe has gone through a series of
major industrial transformations during
the past two and a half centuries.
In recent decades, the structure of the
Europe needs to achieve
fundamental changes
in core systems of production
and consumption.
European economy has progressively
shifted from an industry-intensive
structure towards a service economy.
This shift has been more rapid since
the 1990s, although there is significant
variability between European countries
(OECD, 2019; Eurostat, 2018g).
The service sector now accounts for
some three quarters of EU gross
value added (GVA), with agriculture,
industry and construction accounting
for the remainder (Eurostat, 2018g).
A similar distribution can be observed
for employment (Eurostat, 2018c).
Agriculture accounts for only 2 % of
GVA and employment but contributes
significantly to environmental pressures
(Chapter 13).
Trade has always been fundamentally
important for the European economy,
reflecting its open character and high
dependence on natural resources
from around the world (Section 1.5).
Internationally, the 28 EU Member
States (EU-28) represent the second
largest exporter and importer of goods,
accounting for 16 % of global exports
and 15 % of global imports (extra-EU)
by value in 2018 (Eurostat, 2019b).
In physical terms, the EU imports mainly
raw products (more than 60 % of total
imports), such as biomass, metals,
non‐metallic minerals and fuels, as
inputs to production. It exports primarily
finished goods for final and industrial
consumption (more than 50 % of all
physical exports) (Eurostat, 2018j).
The EU is highly dependent on metal
ores and fossil fuel resources from
the rest of the world. Reliable access
to critical raw materials has become
a growing concern, as many are used
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