Lithuania has a dense network of rivers and extensive areas used for agriculture. Lithuanian legislation generally conforms well with EU environmental legislation.
Lithuania has made remarkable progress in the field of waste management over the last decade and is taking steps to shift to a circular economy which is currently highly resource and energy intensive.
Agricultural nutrients significantly degrade surface water quality, necessitating better integration of environmental considerations into sectoral policies. While Vilnius was named the European Green Capital for 2025, Lithuania continues working to enhance environmental sustainability nationwide.
Highlights
Lithuania introduced mandatory green public procurement in 2023.
Coordinated work has been carried out on the national nature restoration plan.
Main Challenges
Circular economy
Resource productivity and circular material use rates are far below the EU average.
Nature and biodiversity
Two thirds of protected habitats are in unfavourable conservation status. This impacts Lithuania’s climate resilience, as the loss of biodiversity impairs ecosystems’ ability to provide services that help mitigate the effects of climate change, such as regulating water cycles, maintaining soil health, and sequestering carbon.
Pollution
Water pollution remains a challenge, marked by declining ecological status and a sharp drop in surface water bodies meeting good chemical status. Lakes, rivers, and coastal waters in Lithuania are polluted, with less than half achieving good ecological status due to agricultural runoff, urban pollution, and nutrient flows contributing to the Baltic Sea's eutrophication.
Governance and investment
The investment gap is an estimated €1.6 billion per year in Lithuania, representing around 2.36% of national GDP, considerably higher than the EU-average (0.77%).
Lithuania has made good progress on accessibility of spatial data as well as efforts to inform environmental stakeholders about ways to enforce their environmental rights (in particular, on compliance, monitoring and participation).