Climate Change in the Sustainable Development Context with the Focus on the EU

Climate change is a significant threat to sustainable development. Climate change and Sustainable Consumption and Production are among the main themes of the European Union's Sustainable Development Strategy (EU SDS) and these topics are significantly interconnected. The aim of the Paper is to detect the extent of the climate change problem in the sustainable development context in the EU and its countries. The special attention is paid to the relations between the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions per capita or the so called Carbon Footprint on the one hand and the Resource Productivity and the Ecological Footprint on the other hand. The EU made an enormous effort to reduce its GHGs. The relations between the Carbon Footprint and the Resource Productivity as a main indicator of the Sustainable Consumption and Production in the EU countries are not straightforward. As the Carbon Footprint is the highest component of the Ecological Footprint they are significantly correlated in the EU countries.