Climate Education
Europe’s €600 Billion Air Problem
November 3, 2025
Every five years, the European Environment Agency (EEA) takes stock of how Europe’s environment is basically doing. The new 2025 State of the Environment report paints a mixed picture.
While Europe has made real progress in cutting greenhouse gas emissions and reducing air pollution, nature remains under heavy pressure. Biodiversity continues to decline, ecosystems are being overused, and the impacts of climate change are intensifying.
Nature & the Economy Inseparable
The EEA report makes it clear that nature and the economy are deeply connected. As of 2023, around 72 percent of Eurozone companies depend heavily on at least one ecosystem service, while about 75 percent of all bank loans go to firms that rely on at least one ecosystem service. Together, this has accounted for €4.2 trillion in corporate loans.
But the costs of inaction are staggering. The EEA estimates that failure to fully implement EU environmental law drains €180 billion per year from the EU’s economy by driving pollution, ecosystem degradation, and inefficient waste handling.
As of 2023, the European Union (EU) accounted for approximately 6% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, making it the world’s fourth-largest emitter after China, the United States, and India. That is down from 1990 but Europe has a huge role to play in not only limiting their own emissions but also in persuading other nations too as well.
Johnny Dabrowski, Climate Education Coalition
The damage isn’t only financial. Air pollution still represents one of Europe’s biggest health challenges, with related costs reaching around €600 billion every year — roughly 4 percent of the EU’s GDP. Cleaner air could save both lives and money, underscoring how tightly human health and environmental health are linked.
Green Jobs: The Bright Spot in the Data
There is good news though. Europe’s green economy is growing quickly, and employment in environmental sectors is rising faster than in the wider labor market. In 2023, Europe contributed 21% of the world’s turbine and manufacturing renewable energy jobs, a massive 1.8 million careers. The environmental goods and services sector employed 6.7 million people full-time in 2022.
Looking ahead, the EU’s green transition is expected to create up to 2.5 million additional jobs by 2030. The transition to sustainability, in other words, is also a transition to new work and opportunity.
These insights set the stage for Education for Climate Day, held this year in Brussels on 23 October. Our very own Johnny Dabrowski was on the panel “Global Lessons for European Learning” alongside experts from the European Commission, UNESCO, CNRS-IPSL, and the Learning Planet Institute. This discussion explored how international climate commitments — such as the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) — shape national education strategies, how schools can build disaster resilience, and how climate education strengthens Europe’s competitiveness in a green economy.
The main theme of the whole event was how international agreements, such as the Paris Agreement and the associated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), shape national education policies. Participants agreed that the recent surge in NDC commitments to climate education must be matched with adequate climate finance in order to create a meaningful, lasting impact. How are schools in the Global South for example going to integrate climate education into their curricula if they are not funded?
Johnny Dabrowski, Climate Education Coalition
The event, hosted by the European Commission’s Education for Climate initiative, had more than 700 participants registered and streamed live from Brussels reaching over 130,000 followers.
Looking Ahead to COP30
As Europe prepares for COP30, the message from the EEA’s report and from this year’s education initiatives is clear: protecting nature is not only an environmental goal — it’s an economic and social one. A healthy environment supports strong economies, stable societies, and resilient futures. And education is the bridge that links awareness to action.
This is not a partisan issue—we should rise above divisions. Whether your goal is to save the planet or simply ensure that your children are prepared for the future, teaching climate education is essential. It equips the next generation with the knowledge, skills, and opportunities they deserve. In short: it’s good for the planet and good for your kids’ futures. Who can honestly argue against that logic?
Johnny Dabrowski, Climate Education Coalition
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