The Czech Republic is eighth among EU member countries in fulfilling sustainability goals according to the latest Europe Sustainable Development Report.

The Czech Republic is eighth among EU member countries in fulfilling sustainability goals, improving mainly in the fight against poverty, but seeing a slight decline in its climate protection measures, according to the latest Europe Sustainable Development Report.

The report measures each country’s success in achieving the 17 sustainable development goals set by the United Nations organisation.

According to the report, the Czech Republic is in first place among the countries of Eastern and Central Europe, leaving behind even some of the older EU member countries like the UK, Belgium or the Netherlands.

“The report shows that in regard to its approach to sustainable development, the Czech Republic can stand among the most advanced countries of the world. We are fulfilling the goals completely in the area of poverty, we are very good at fulfilling water management goals and our results are not bad even in the areas like the sustainability of cities and environmental protection. We can still do more in the fight against climate change, especially due to our high greenhouse gas emissions in energy production,” Deputy Environment Minister Vladislav Smrz said.

The report emphasises environmental protection and the decrease in emissions, but its two other pillars are social and economic development.

The Czech Republic has the lowest number of citizens threatened by poverty among all EU countries. It also reached a high evaluation in the subcategory of the long-term unemployment rate, which is lowest among all EU countries.

The Czech Republic also achieved improvements in the extent of its protected areas, important for the protection of biodiversity, as well as in the high quality of its groundwater.

In the category of fighting against climate change, the report shows a worsening trend, caused mainly by excessive CO2 emissions during energy production.