Europe’s land take and the loss of nature and cropland to artificial surfaces

Abstract The expansion of artificial surfaces, also known as land take, is a major contributor to habitat loss and biodiversity decline. Using high-resolution satellite data, we find that between 2018 and 2023 Europe lost 912 ± 74 km 2 yr −1 of natural and semi-natural land cover and 588 ± 27 km 2 yr −1 of cropland due to land take - nearly twice as large as previous estimates. Countries exhibiting the greatest land take per capita are Norway and Estonia, while Switzerland and Spain are most land efficient. The majority of land take (80%) occurs within modified ecosystems such as urban greenspace and semi-natural agricultural areas. Grasslands are disproportionately affected, with land take rates nearly five times that of other (semi-)natural ecosystems. The main land-use drivers of land take are residential (41%) and transport/logistics development (22%), and are therefore priority industries for targeting mitigation policies. Our methods provide a template for design-based monitoring of land take and call for an economic valuation of the ecosystem services lost due to land take.