It is a familiar sight for any city dweller: the truck double parked or stopping traffic on a busy road to deliver some package at a house door. Commercial deliveries are an increasing congestion issue, particularly for European historical city centres.

“If I just look at my courtyard , three of my neighbors have an electric car" , says Christian Patermann, long-time program director at the European Commission and now internationally known as the “father of the bioeconomy”.

In January 2005, a severe storm swept across Northern Europe, from Ireland to Russia. More than 500,000 homes were left without power, with Denmark and Southern Sweden being particularly hard-hit.

Plastic products made of PVC, Polystyrene and other prominent plastics are flooding the market. They are a growing threat to the environment, as they are found in the sea or dumped in land fills .

The Oceans are filled with a diversity of life forms. This means that getting a complete picture of marine biodiversity is challenging.

The Swedish environmental engineer Edward Soméus invented in the early ’80s a CO 2 free technology, abiding by the 3R principles: Recycle-Reduce-Reuse, to manufacture a natural fertiliser called biochar .

Making decisions related to forest conservation is no mean feat. Particularly, when a cost/benefit analysis is combined with integrating social and institutional impact at local and national scale.

There are 19 countries in the catchment area of Danube River. The extensive use of water resources in that area has not been without consequences on its water quality. Let alone on the riverside’s biodiversity and environment.

Tyres are well suited for recycling. They are easy to collect and do not require any costly sorting process.  However, in Europe, still only about 50% of the tyres are recycled .

Large amounts of industrial contaminants, such as mineral oil, chlorinated hydrocarbons and heavy metals, are hidden in the soil and ground water across Europe.

We can blame all sorts of things on the weather. But a stomach bug?  It seems unlikely. Yet, scientists say greater quantities of rainfall and bigger storms will lead to more stomach upsets in parts of Europe.

Making planning decisions about cities today means keeping an eye on climate change predictions.  More flash floods are expected, for example.