Leaving no one behind - understanding environmental inequality in Europe

Abstract

The European Union aims to deliver a healthy environment to its citizens, with significant progress achieved in tackling key environmental stressors in recent decades. At the same time, significant risks to health remain from air, soil and water pollution, noise, chemicals and the impacts of climate change. High quality environments - such as urban areas rich in green and blue spaces - offer significant benefits to health. The unequal distribution of these risks and benefits across society, whereby socially disadvantages groups are more likely to live in poorer environmental conditions, contributes to health inequity across Europe.The European Environment Agency (EEA) is exploring how environmental risks and benefits are distributed across society. Recent evidence produced by EEA indicated that poorer European regions are more likely to be exposed to environmental health hazards at levels that negatively affect health. At country level, the disproportionate exposure of lower socio-economic groups to air pollution, noise and high temperatures is seen in urban areas. We also see inequality in terms of who generates pollution and who suffers the consequences. While poorer countries are likely to be worse affected by climate change, high incomes are linked to high carbon footprints across Europe. Quality environments offer benefits to health, in particular in urban areas, and can contribute to reducing health inequalities. Environmental inequality also plays out across generations, whereby future generations will have to tackle environmental degradation resulting from the activities of past and current populations, such as the accumulation of persistent chemicals in the environment, biodiversity loss and climate change.New opportunities exist to explore the complex linkages between environmental quality, socio-economic status, and health and well-being. These include combining existing data from across these domains with data from new sources, such as citizen science initiatives, smart phones, social media and satellite observation data. Knowledge that integrates the social and environmental domains and explores the drivers behind environmental health inequity is crucial to supporting implementation of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular the pledge of leaving no one behind.

Keywords: Benefits; Environment; Health; Inequality; Stressors; Well-being.