The report provides, for the first time, an assessment of the development of environmental quality in the EU in the near future, i.e. 2010. Environmental policy can not alone provide the sustainable development set up as a goal in the Amsterdam Treaty.
Economic sectors have to change and carry their part of the responsibility for sustainability.
The present report analyses that situation and documents the current and future unsustainable development of some economic sectors - transport, energy, agriculture, household consumption and tourism. This is the major barrier to environmental improvement, even when considering policies in place or in the pipeline in 1997. But production and consumption will increase more and, in general, demand more natural resources and generate more pollutants and waste. This development has already started eroding gains from environmental policy initiatives e.g. air quality Directives. Economic growth therefore necessitates speeding up efforts towards better integration of environment into all policy areas.