The European Environmental Agency is an institution that can be compared to the US Environmental Protection Agency, with a regulatory role constrained by the differences in the institutional architecture.

The technical report on green infrastructure and territorial cohesion addresses a concept which is increasingly mentioned, but still lacks a consensual definition among specialists. The practices covered by this term are related to networks of conservation spaces, with multiple functions, that are physically continuous, and show a substantial capacity to cope with climate change and other environmental threats.

Green infrastructure produces synergic effects, more relevant than the mere addition of its parts. The environmental services that the land reserved for these networks provide to cities and their hinterlands are so increased, reducing in some cases the cost of “hard” infrastructures.

The report differentiates the urban scale effects and the landscape scale effects. Concepts as environmental corridors and preservation of flood plains are associated to the concept of environmental infrastructure.

The report includes examples of application of the conceptin Europe and in other areas.