Europe losing 600 football pitches-worth of cropland and nature a day, analysis reveals

Europe is losing green space that once harboured wildlife, captured carbon and supplied food at the rate of 600 football pitches a day, an investigation by the Guardian and partners has revealed.

- Pamela Duncan Zeke Hunter-Green Sandra Laville

Analysis of satellite imagery across the UK and mainland Europe between 2018 and 2023 shows the speed and scale at which green land is turning grey, consumed by roads, luxury golf courses and housing developments.

The loss of the Amazon rainforest has been measured for years using satellite imagery and on-the-ground monitoring, but until now the scale of green land lost in Europe had never been captured in the same way.

In the first investigation of its kind across Europe, the Green to Grey project, working with scientists from the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (Nina) to measure nature loss, reveals the scale of nature and farmland lost to human intervention.

The cross-border project by the Guardian, Arena for Journalism in Europe (Arena), Nina, the Norwegian broadcaster NRK and other news outlets in 11 countries found that Europe loses about 1,500 sq km (580 sq miles) a year to construction.

About 9,000 sq km of land, an area the size of Cyprus, was turned from green to grey between 2018 and 2023, according to the data - equivalent to almost 30 sq km a week, or 600 football pitches a day.

Nature accounts for the majority of the losses, at about 900 sq km a year, but the research shows building on agricultural land at a rate of about 600 sq km a year, with grave consequences for the continent's food security and health.

Steve Carver, a professor of wilderness at the University of Leeds, said: "Land lost to development is one of the primary drivers of wilderness loss and biodiversity decline. But we are also losing cropland and productive land as cities expand into the green belt and on to agricultural land."

The most common developments, accounting for a quarter of all cases, were housing and roads. But nature and farmland is also being destroyed to accommodate luxuries for the rich, tourism, consumerism and industry.