How much bioenergy can Europe produce without harming the environment?, published by the European Environment Agency, concludes that increasing the use of renewable energies offers significant opportunities for Europe to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and secure its energy supply. However, the substantial rise in the use of biomass from agriculture, forestry and waste for producing energy might put additional pressure on farmland and forest biodiversity as well as on soil and water resources.

An article on the impact of the 2003 heatwave on European vegetation and agricultural production can be found in the journal Nature, Nature 437, 529-533 (22 September 2005). The heatwave that parched Europe in 2003 caused the continent's grasslands and forests to release huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Heatwaves are predicted to become more common as a result of climate change, so the discovery raises fears that forests in temperate regions will become significant emitters of this greenhouse gas.

A global perspective is also given by the Global Environmental Change and Food Systems (GECAFS) project. The GECAFS Goal is to determine strategies to cope with the impacts of global environmental change on food systems and to assess the environmental and socio-economic consequences of adaptive responses aimed at improving food security.