Europe remains far from reaching the objective of living well within the limits of the planet by 2050, according to the European Environment Agency’s latest assessment. Its key message is that Europe still faces a range of persistent and growing environmental challenges. Addressing them will require fundamental changes in the systems of production and consumption that are the root cause of environmental problems. Although we use natural resources more efficiently than in the past, we are still degrading our natural capital. The loss of biodiversity remains a major threat: recent data shows that 60% of species and 77% of habitat assessments recorded an unfavourable conservation status. Europe is falling behind the 2020 target of halting biodiversity loss. European soils are also at risk: land-use change and agricultural intensification are threatening soil ecosystem services. More than 25% of the EU's territory is affected by soil erosion by water, which compromises soil functions and freshwater quality. Soil contamination and sealing are also persistent problems. The European Environment Agency (EEA) does not believe that land use and management, and their associated environmental and socio-economic drivers, will turn for the better, especially since clear and binding targets are missing. Fresh water quality has improved over recent years but the EEA is concerned about the nutrient load of water bodies as “excessive nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) inputs in aquatic environments cause eutrophication, resulting in changes in species abundance and diversity, as well as algal blooms, deoxygenated dead zones, and leaching of nitrate to groundwater.“ The impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems are expected to worsen. Agriculture will be affected by shifts in crop phenology, suitable cropping area, changes in yields and by increased water demand for irrigation in southern Europe. Agriculture could also contribute to meeting the challenges. However, in the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, “a more ambitious and long-term approach would be needed to address the resource efficiency of the agricultural sector in terms of productivity, land , carbon capture, water use, and dependence on mineral fertilisers and pesticides”. The report mentions that, “reducing agriculture’s environmental impacts requires a transition towards low-input systems”. According to the authors, organic farming can contribute to increasing the efficiency of nutrient management and reducing pesticide use. Although the organic sector has experienced a rapid development over recent years, only 5.7% of the EU’s agricultural area was under organic agriculture in 2012, with large differences in the share of organic agriculture amongst countries. Austria is at the top of the list with 18.6% while Malta has the lowest share at 0.3%. (ab)