The European Environment Agency (EEA) was set up in Copenhagen in 1994 after a few years of negotiating. Sweden was one of the countries supporting the establishment and became a member of EEA before entering the EU.
The European Environment Agency provides sound, independent information on the European environment for those policymakers involved in developing, adopting, implementing and evaluating environmental policy, and to the general public. In close collaboration with European Environmental Information and Observation Network and its 33 member countries, the EEA gathers data and produces assessments on a wide range of topics related to the European environment.
Sweden and the European Environment Agency
Sweden is reusing the knowledge from EEA for the assessments of our Environmental quality objectives, and with monitoring the impacts of environmental policy.
Sweden has supplied data and assessments to all EEA’s state of environment reports. The Swedish EPA have supported EEA especially in streamline reporting and digitalization of environmental data.
Sweden is involved in all 24 roles of EEA’s EIONET (European Information and Observation Network). 43 experts from nine government agencies participate, and the Swedish EPA coordinates the cooperation as National Focal Point for EEA. This function is managed by Ninni Lundblad Borén and Cecilia Stafsing. The head of Environmental analysis department Anna Otmalm, is the Swedish representative on the EEA Management Board. Between 2003 and 2007 Sweden chaired the management board.
The Swedish EPAs priorities for EEA have been to streamline the reporting of environmental data and to make sure the data reported are used in indicators and assessments. The Swedish EPA has over the years had at least one seconded national expert at EEA working within priority areas of streamlining reporting, biodiversity and climate and IT-developments.