Land and Air Resources
European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) JRC Ispra site (Italy)
Europe faces increasing pressures to manage its natural resources sustainably while promoting economic growth. Balancing resource use and environmental protection is crucial as the EU moves towards a greener, circular economy. The JRC uses innovative tools and best practices to help the EU meet its sustainability goals and remain competitive in global markets. The JRC’s expertise and data-driven insights are essential for ensuring that Europe’s resources are used responsibly and efficiently.
insights are essential for ensuring that the EU’s resources are used responsibly and efficiently.The JRC’s expertise and data-driven
RMIS 3.0, its latest version, provides stakeholders with wide-ranging data on raw materials across their life cycle from extraction to recycling, with a strong focus on sustainability. By delivering insights on supply risks and circularity, RMIS helps stakeholders anticipate challenges and opportunities in securing raw materials for Europe’s green and digital transformations.
By supporting policy frameworks, such as the 2024 Critical Raw Materials Act, RMIS enables the EU to maintain access to vital resources, particularly those critical to its digital and green economy transitions. The system also promotes circularity by highlighting the importance of recycling and secondary sources for these materials.
In recent years, there has been a fundamental shift in policy focus in relation to soil. Healthy, functional soils are key for implementing several of the political priorities that emerged out of the European Green Deal. The EU Soil Observatory is tasked with providing robust data and knowledge to policy makers and other stakeholders on the state of soils across the EU and beyond. The EUSO supports the implementation of the EU Soil Strategy for 2030 through a dedicated set of dashboards, The EUSO is also tasked with supporting Member States in the implementation of the Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive.
Food waste is a significant sustainability challenge, with vast amounts of edible food being discarded across the EU annually. The JRC’s work on consumer food waste prevention is crucial to creating more sustainable food systems and reducing environmental impacts. The European Consumer Food Waste Forum has developed an interactive toolkit to help policymakers, businesses, and schools reduce waste.
This toolkit includes video tutorials, a food waste action planner, and a food waste prevention calculator, which allows users to assess the environmental and economic benefits of waste reduction. By providing actionable insights, the JRC is enabling EU stakeholders to minimise food waste and contribute to a more sustainable future.
European Reference Laboratory for Air Pollution (ERLAP) organises interlaboratory comparisons (ILC) several times per year, based on artificial or ambient test samples. These ILCs are part of quality assurance programmes carried out in collaboration with the network of European Air Quality Reference Laboratories (AQUILA), the WHO Collaborating Centre for Air Quality Management and Air Pollution Control and under research infrastructure projects like the ACTRIS project.
The Forum for Air quality Modelling (FAIRMODE) was launched in 2007 as a joint response initiative of the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the JRC, who currently chairs it.
It promotes the harmonised use of models by Member States, supporting model users at all administrative levels—national, regional, urban, and local—in their policy-related model applications under the European Air Quality Directives. The network is dedicated to fostering effective communication and promoting best practices in modelling by providing a comprehensive framework for exchanging expertise, and offering tools such as electronic interfaces, databases, and software solutions. FAIRMODE also facilitates knowledge sharing through workshops, seminars, and collaborative projects.
The JRC’s European Reference Laboratory for Air Pollution (ERLAP) provides technical and scientific input to policymakers and Member States authorities and laboratories regarding air pollution measurements. ERLAP carries out research on new measurement methods and supports the development of reference methods to measure emerging pollutants. Its main role is related to the organisation of quality assurance programmes for European National Air Quality Reference Laboratories. Those programmes are an integral part of the Air Quality Directive’s requirements and tackle gaseous and particulate air pollution.
