Portugal scores well on reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; not so with waste recycling
Portugal is one of the EU countries that has most reduced greenhouse gas emissions but has been unable to deal with waste, and in this case is well below the European average, reports Lusa on World Environment Day.
The event is being marked with a debate at the Tejo Power Station in Lisbon today, using data compiled for a statistical portrait of the environmental situation in Portugal, by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation database, Pordata, in collaboration with APA, the Portuguese Environment Agency.
The data shows that since 2005 Portugal has reduced 35% of greenhouse gas emissions (the EU average is 24%), but it also shows “a great dependence on fossil energy”, and that with increasingly higher temperatures, the country is producing “more and more waste”.
World Environment Day has been celebrated annually on 5 June since 1974. This year, with Ivory Coast and the Netherlands as host countries, it addresses solutions to plastic pollution.
For the past 50 years it has been an moment to raise awareness about environmental issues worldwide.
To mark the date, waste management entities, Novo Verde and ERP Portugal, in partnership with the EDP Foundation, are promoting today’s debate in Lisbon.
The day is also marked with other initiatives, both in the capital and in Guimarães, Coimbra, Braga, Guarda and Funchal.
Security company Prosegur has also presented its list of what it considers the main environmental crimes committed in Portugal. These include illegal, undeclared and unregulated fishing, possession of and illegal trade in species, illegal hunting/ poaching, illegal exploitation and trafficking of wood, illegal extraction of mineral resources and illegal waste management
Lusa
