Progress in implementing the EU biodiversity strategy – EEA report

2025. The European Environment Agency (EEA) has published a scientific and policy report on assessing the implementation of the 2030 Biodiversity Strategy. Its purpose is to provide an update on the situation and next steps in developing a monitoring framework for the European Union’s biodiversity strategy, review progress made in implementing the strategy, and assess the likelihood of achieving the 2030 targets.

The EEA report Assessing progress in monitoring and implementing the EUbiodiversity strategy for 2030 can be downloaded from the website of the Publications Office of the European Union.

General context

In May 2020. The European Commission adopted the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and a related action plan. The plan calls for the creation of a much larger and more coherent network of protected areas, as well as the legal protection of at least 30 percent of EU land areas and 30 percent of EU marine areas.

The strategy includes specific commitments and actions to be implemented by 2030, centered around four main pillars:

1. Nature Conservation;
2. Ecosystem Restoration;
3. Enabling transformative change;
4. Ensure the EU’s high level of ambition and mobilize all efforts for the good of biodiversity in the world.

Its goal is to restore Europe’s biodiversity by 2030 for the benefit of people, the climate and the planet, and to build societies’ resilience to future threats, such as the effects of climate change, forest fires, food insecurity or epidemics.

The EU’s 2030 Biodiversity Strategy called Bringing Nature Back to Our Lives is a key component of the European Green Deal.

EEA Report: Assessing progress in monitoring and implementing the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030

Published in 2025, the report is part of the European Commission’s Joint Research Center’s (JRC) broader work supporting the monitoring of environmental policies set out in the European Green Deal (EEO). Among other things, it includes a gap analysis of the sustainability goals of the EEO, the monitoring and outlook of the Zero Pollution Action Plan, the monitoring of the EU’s soil strategy through the EU Soil Strategy Actions Tracker tool, or the development of a monitoring framework for the Farm-to-Table strategy.

The EEA report consists of five sections. The first is an introduction. The second describes the tools for monitoring the progress of the EU’s 2030 Biodiversity Strategy. The third highlights the progress made so far in implementing actions. The fourth focuses on progress in monitoring and in achieving and prospects for achieving the adopted goals. The final, fifth section provides conclusions and information on key achievements and gaps and shortcomings in the monitoring and implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030.

Objectives and (sub)targets analyzed in the report

In the EEA report, analyses and evaluations of either the achievement of the goals or the degree of implementation of the activities were performed for the following goals and (sub)targets:

1. Goal: Legally protect at least 30% of the EU’s land area and at least 30% of the EU’s marine area, and integrate ecological corridors as part of a true trans-European nature network:
   a. (sub)goal: Provide legal protection for at least 30% of the EU’s land area;
   b. (sub)objective: Provide legal protection for at least 30 percent of the EU’s marine area;
   c. (sub)goal: Build a coherent trans-European nature network integrating ecological corridors on land;
   d. (sub)goal: Build a coherent trans-European nature network integrating ecological corridors at sea.
2. Goal: Strictly protect at least one-third of EU protected areas, including all remaining EU primary forests and old-growth forests:
   a. (sub)target: Ensure strict protection of at least one-third of EU protected areas;
   b. (sub)goal: Strictly protect all remaining primary forests and old-growth forests in the EU.
3. Goal: Effective management of all protected areas, defining conservation goals and actions and monitoring them accordingly.
4. Goal: By 2030, areas of degraded and carbon-rich ecosystems will be restored:
   a. (sub)target: Significant areas of degraded and carbon-rich ecosystems are restored
   b. (sub)goal: Habitats show no deterioration in trends and conservation status;
   c. (sub)target: Species show no deterioration in trends and conservation status;
   d. (sub)target: At least 30 percent of species that are currently not in an adequate conservation status are reaching adequate conservation status or at least showing a positive trend;
   e. (sub)target: At least 30 percent of habitats that are currently not in an adequate conservation status achieve adequate conservation status or at least show a positive trend.
5. Goal: Reverse the decline in pollinator populations.
6. Goal: Risk and use of pesticides is reduced by 50 percent:
   a. (Sub)goal: Reduce chemical pesticide use and associated risks by 50 percent ;
   b. (sub)goal: Reduce the use of more hazardous pesticides by 50 percent;
7. Goal: Presence of landscape elements with high diversity on at least 10 percent of agricultural land.
8. Goal: At least 25 percent of agricultural land is covered by organic farming, and implementation of agroecological practices has increased significantly:
   a. (sub)goal: At least 25 percent of agricultural land is covered by organic farming;
   b. (sub)goal: Implementation of agroecological practices has increased significantly.
9. Goal: Three billion trees have been planted in the EU, with full respect for ecological principles.
10. Goal: To restore at least 25,000 km of rivers to free-flowing condition.
11. Goal: Significant progress has been made in remediating sites with contaminated soil.
12. Goal: The number of Red List species threatened by invasive alien species reduced by 50 percent.
13. Goal: Nutrient losses from fertilizers are reduced by 50 percent, resulting in a reduction in fertilizer use of at least 20 percent:
    a. (sub)goal: Nutrient losses from fertilizers are reduced by 50 percent;
    b. (sub)goal: Fertilizer use is reduced by at least 20 percent.
14. Goal: Cities with at least 20,000 residents have an ambitious Urban Greening Plan.
15. Goal: Negative impacts on sensitive species and habitats, including the seabed, through fishing and extractive activities are significantly reduced:
    a. (sub)goal: Negative impacts of fishing and extractive activities on sensitive species are significantly reduced;
    b. (sub)goal: Negative impacts on sensitive habitats, including the seabed, through fishing and mining activities are significantly reduced;
    c. (sub)goal: Good environmental status has been achieved.
16. Goal: Species bycatch is eliminated or reduced to a level that allows species recovery and conservation.

Key findings

The results of the analyses indicate that as of March 2025, about half of the activities implemented in connection with the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 had been completed, and the remainder were close to completion or in the process of implementation.

Analyses were conducted for (sub)objectives, each of which included one aspect related to the strategy. For each (sub)objective, the following was highlighted:

• The availability of indicators to track progress against targets, as well as work on further development of indicators;
• The progress achieved so far in their implementation;
• The prospects for achieving them by 2030.

At present, the results of the analysis indicate progress in the implementation of 10 (sub)goals, for which the trend is stable, and for two the current trends are contrary to the desired direction. However, progress could not be assessed due to lack of data for the remaining (sub)goals.

The report’s authors point out that the EU has made progress mainly on (sub)targets focusing on mitigating some of the pressures and impacts on biodiversity (e.g., designating protected areas, reducing the use of pesticides and fertilizers, and switching to organic farming), while on (sub)targets for the state of biodiversity, the EU is still falling short of its targets, i.e., populations of common birds and pollinators continue to decline. This may suggest that the level of reduction in these pressures on biodiversity has not been sufficient.

Better implementation of existing environmental policies, including full implementation of theNature Restoration Law, is needed to achieve the maximum number of the strategy’s goals.

Further action and analysis

Since the EEA report is part of a broader body of work supporting the monitoring of environmental policies, the JRC’s continued work in this area will help improve the consistency and complementarity of information and help focus on strengthening interoperability between the EEZ monitoring frameworks, as well as links to EU and national monitoring of the implementation of biodiversity requirements.