A new science for policy brief presents the results of an analysis conducted by JRC on the EU economy's dependency on nature. This study aims to produce a “high-level” estimate of the dependency of various economic sectors on ecosystem services in the EU, using a similar approach as described by WEF (2020) and Evison et al. (2023).

The results show that the EU economy as a whole is susceptible to nature degradation, in particular when considering the interconnectedness of economic sectors. A significant share (19% to 36%) of the EU’s gross added value is found to be highly dependent on ecosystem services. The methodology opens up the possibility for further research, which could leverage existing JRC resources and data.

This publication coincides with that of a JRC working paper presenting the methodology in more detail.