Environmental Sustainability: A 30-Year Progress Assessment in Portugal

Sustainable development is a common goal for all countries since the concept was adopted at the 1992 Rio Conference. European Union (EU) became a world leader in most of indicators despite successive enlargement of country members with newcomers often facing basic environmental problems. In 1986, Portugal became a member of the European Economic Community (EEC), and immediately began to reflect its environmental policies. Over the last 30 years, the support of EU funds and the implementation of environmental public policies in Portugal, have been essential for the country’s sustainable development. As a result, Portugal’s standards started to be closer to those of the EU and, in some cases even exceeded it. The present article addresses, for the first time, a long series of 30 years (1987-2017), in a retrospective analysis of a set of indicators, in order to characterize the evolution of Portugal’s environmental sustainability, its relationship to the national public policies, and in the context of the EU. The progress of the indicators towards specific environmental sustainability targets is also evaluated. Moreover, a set of key indicators that also evaluate the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are identified. The results show that the evolution of Portugal’s environmental sustainability in the last 30 years was remarkable. The water standards, air quality, urban waste, and energy sectors showed high improvement. However, the evolution in the sectors such as land use, and environmental risks, particularly forest fires, were negative. On the other hand, for some indicators, such as renewable energies or bathing water quality, Portugal performed better than the EU-28. Environmental performance shows the positive influence of EU environment policies and structural support, changing dramatically the quality of the environment in Portugal, from a negative situation to a success case study in a generation period.

management, the so-called first generation of environmental policies. Accompanying the EU, the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning published in 2000 the first edition of the National Sustainable Development Indicators System SIDS Portugal (SIDS), which was brought up to date in 2007 [15], and launching the National Environment and Sustainable Development. Portugal produced only two biennial reports (2009 and 2011), evaluating its evolution of sustainable development, based on the "traffic light system" methodology. This evaluation was discontinued with the entry into force of the SDGs. This paper reviews, for the first time, a long series of 30 years (1987-2017), in a retrospective analysis of the indicators of sustainable development, following the concept of ex-post (backward looking) policy evaluations quoted by Maas et al [16]. This case study focuses on the environmental dimension, in relation to national public policies in the context of the EU. The aim is to relate SIDS indicators to SDG indicators.

Methods
In this section we present the methodology used to evaluate the evolution of en-

Selection of Sustainable Development Indicators
The selection of the indicator set characterizing the evolution of Sustainable Development in the last 30 years is based on the Portuguese Sustainable Development Indicators System, "SIDS Portugal" [15]. This study reviews data available for the environmental indicators from SIDS Portugal.
The environmental-economic and environmental-social indicators were also considered, such as energy and carbon intensity of the economy, and forest fires.
In order to identify and assess the existing data and information on these indicators, we analyzed the annual Portuguese Reports on the State of the Environment from 1987 to 2017. Table 1 shows the criteria used to select the most appropriate indicators for the study. Table 2 shows the selected indicators. Table 1. Criteria used for the final indicators selection (Adapted from Cook, et al. [17]).   Quantitative Evaluation of the Sustainable Development Indicators from  1987 to 2017 For each selected indicator, the trends (increasing or decreasing) and the average growth rate between 1987 and 2017 were identified. The indicators were evaluated from 1987 to 2017 whenever possible.
Once the Portuguese Reports on the State of the Environment are the relevant official documents, and the quality and accuracy of the data are guaranteed, the data used to evaluate the Indicators was collected from these Reports. In order to complete information lacking in those Reports, other reliable official sources were used, such as data from the National Statistical Institute, Water and Waste Services Regulation Authority, and Eurostat (European Statistical Office).

Qualitative Evaluation of the Sustainable Development Indicators
A simple and concise way to evaluate the progress of sustainability indicators based on a qualitative scale is the "Traffic Light System", which evaluates indicator trends according to 3 colours (green, yellow, red) and is easily understood [17].
This paper applies the Traffic Light System approach to measure trend-based progress of the indicators and also the progress of the indicators towards specific environmental sustainability targets (Target-based indicators).
For all indicators, a trend-based evaluation was carried out, according to the trends found in the quantitative evaluation. To evaluate the selected indicators' progress towards the Portuguese Sustainable Development Strategy, also known as ENDS 2015-Estratégia Nacional de Desenvolvimento Sustentável (ENDS) targets, related goals were identified. For the indicators that did not match any specific ENDS targets, we adopted targets from the specific Sectorial Strategic Plans, such as water and sanitation or waste management strategic plans, covering a significant part of the studied period. For those indicators without specific targets, either in the ENDS or in any Strategic Plans, only a trend-based assessment was carried out. Table 2 shows the targets used. The meaning of the traffic lights is as follows: Green = Positive trend with significant progress; or meets the defined target; Yellow = Trend with little or no progress; or some positive development but still insufficient to achieve the target; Red = Deteriorating trend, or does not meet the target and is far from achieving it; Grey = No target set, not applicable.

Selection of Indicators for the 2030 Agenda
To identify which of the selected indicators could also evaluate the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a comparative analysis between the selected indicators and the 2030 Agenda SDG indicators were carried out.

Results
This section of the paper describes the evolution of Portuguese environmental sustainability according to each of the selected indicators, from 1987 to 2017, whenever data are available. The indicators positions relative to the achievement of the targets of the National Sustainable Development Strategy and Sectorial Strategic Plans, are evaluated by Traffic Light System approach.
These indicators are also compared with the 2030 Agenda goals, in order to identify which of these indicators could evaluate these SDGs.

Water
The evolution of the water sector indicators showed remarkably good results in most indicators. Portugal's population served with water supply systems showed a growing trend between 1989 and 2009. Its average growth rate was 1.1% per year. In 1989, only 63% of the population was served by public water systems. In 2016, the percentage of houses served with public water supply systems reached 96% (see Figure 1).
The population served by wastewater drainage and treatment systems increased since 1987, and showed an average growth rate of 1.5% and 3.1% per year, respectively. In 1987 less than half of Portugal's population was served by wastewater drainage systems (42%), and only 4.7% of the population was served by wastewater treatment systems. In 2016, the percentage of houses served by public wastewater drainage and treatment systems increased to 83% and 82%, respectively (see Figure 2).  The Drinking Water Quality indicator also showed good progress. Despite the growing trend of the percentage of non-compliance water samples with parametric values (PV) in the period 1993-1998, there followed a downward trend, reaching 1.23% in 2016. Note that the Portuguese legislation between 1998 and 1999 suffered great changes in its quality criteria. The percentage of missing analyses showed a downward trend from 1993 to 2016, reaching 0.08% in 2016 (see Figure 3).
In terms of Bathing Water Quality, both inland, and coastal or transitional bathing waters showed a growing trend of the class "Excellent" and a downward trend of the class "Bad" quality (see Figure 4 and Figure 5). When analyzing coastal and transitional bathing waters, the class "Excellent" evolved from 51.8% in 1993 to 89% in 2016. The class "Bad" evolved from 27.2% in 1993 to 0.9% in 2016. In terms of inland bathing waters, the class "Excellent" increased from 4.2% in 1993 to 69.6% in 2016. In 1993 the class "Bad" was 12.5%, reaching 0% in 2016.
Despite the positive evolution of the water indicators presented, the water consumption indicator showed a growing trend. As Figure 6 displays, Portugal has increased its volume of water consumed, since 1987, as well as volume of water abstracted for public supply, since 1991. Their average growth rates were 0.78% and 1.13% per year, respectively.    In terms of Air Temperature, the average annual maximum temperature of Portugal, showed a growing trend in the period 1987-2017. Its average growth was 0.025˚C per year, which corresponds to an increase of 0.75˚C in the last 30 years. The average annual minimum temperature showed a downward trend in the period 1987-2017. Its average growth was −0.024˚C per year, which corresponds to a decrease of 0.72˚C in the last 30 years. The average annual mean temperature showed no considerable fluctuations in the last 30 years, with an average growth close to zero (see Figure 8).
During the period of data availability, 2002-2016, Portugal's Air Quality showed a positive progress. As Figure 9 shows, the percentage of the number of days with "Very Good" and "Good" air quality index (AQI) registered a growing trend, while the percentage of the number of days classified with "Medium" and "Bad/Weak" registered a downward trend. From 2002 to 2016, the class "Very Good" showed an average growth rate of 0.4% per year. In 2002 this percentage was 6.4%, increasing to 8.1% in 2016. The class "Good" showed an average growth rate of 2.9% per year, increasing from 30.1% in 2002, to 83.2% in 2016. The class "Medium" showed an average growth rate of −2.3% per year, decreasing from 54.4% to 7.2% in the period 2002-2016. The class "Bad/Weak" showed an average growth rate of −1% per year. In 2002, this percentage was 9.1%, decreasing to 1.5% in 2016.   Land Use Figure 10 identifies Portugal's percentage of land area of the classes "Land Use and Land Cover" relative to 1986, for the years where data were available (1986-2012). The areas of Forest, Artificial Surfaces, and Water Bodies showed an increasing trend, while the Agricultural Areas, Agriculture with Natural Areas, and Natural Vegetation registered a decreasing trend. In the period 1986-2012, the Forest area and Artificial surfaces registered the greatest growth. The Forest area grew by 1.3%, and the Artificial surfaces grew by 1.2%, corresponding to an average growth rate of 0.055% and 0.048% per year, respectively. The area of Natural Vegetation registered the greatest decline (about −1.1%), with an average growth rate of −0.046% per year.

Nature and Biodiversity Conservation
Although Portugal's National Protected Areas Network (NPAN) increased from 1987 to 2017, this growth was feeble. Its average growth rate was only 0.1% per year. In 2017, the total size of protected land areas in Portugal was 793 086.1 ha, which equates to 8.3% of the continental territory (see Figure 11). In terms of protected area with spatial plans over the period 1987-2017, Portugal's performance shows two periods of growth and two periods of stability. The two periods of growth occurred in 1987-1995, and 2003-2008, with an average growth rate of 5.6% and 8.4% per year, respectively. The stability periods occurred in the years 1995-2003, and 2008-2017 (see Figure 12). In 2017, the NPAN area covered by spatial plans was 91.4% of the total NPAN area. The highest coverage occurred in 2008 (96.8%).
To supervise protected areas, in 1988 mainland Portugal had only 19 nature rangers, which corresponds to 25,000 ha of protected area per ranger. The highest number of rangers occurred in 1999, with 187 nature rangers. After this year the number started to decrease significantly.
From 1988 to 1990, the surface of protected land areas per nature ranger decreased to 3600 ha per ranger. From that year onwards, there was an increasing trend of this area per ranger. During the period 1990-2017 the average growth rate of surface of protected land areas per nature ranger was 2.4% per year. In this period, the highest value occurred in 2017, with 6300 ha per nature ranger (see Figure 13).

Environmental Risks
Between 1987 and 2017, the total of burnt forest areas in Portugal showed a growing trend, with an average growth rate of 1.

Urban Waste
Viewed over the period of data availability, 1987-2016 (except for the years 1988, 1991 and 1992, for which information is lacking), Portugal's total and per capita urban waste production showed a growing trend. The average growth rates were 1.74% and 1.76% per year, respectively. As Figure 15 shows, in 2009, Portugal registered the highest value of urban waste production (5.19 million tonnes) and also the highest daily per capita value (1.4 kg/inhab/day). From 2009 to 2013, these values decreased. But from 2013 onwards, the Portuguese total and per capita urban waste production showed an increase, reaching 4.64 million tons and 1.29 kg/inhab/day respectively, in 2016. The increase of waste production is strongly related to economic growth and therefore to the increase of society's consumption trends.
As Figure 16 shows, in almost 30 years (1988-2017) Portugal changed its type of waste destination. In 1989, dumps were the main destination of the urban waste (62% of the total urban waste produced). Between 1989 and 2002, the percentage of waste with this destination showed a downward trend, with an average growth rate of −4.5% per year. In 2002 all dumps were eradicated. The destination "Landfill" showed a growing trend in the period 1988-2002, followed by a downward trend between 2002 and 2017. In 1988, the share of urban waste sent to landfill sites was 28%. In 2002 it reached the highest value (74%), and in 2017 it decreased to 32%. The destinations "organic recovery", "material recov-ery", and "incineration/energy recovery", showed a growing trend. It should be noted that the last 2 destinations only appeared in 1998 and 1999 respectively. Municipal solid waste incinerators entered fully in service in the two major metropolitan areas (Valorsul in Lisbon and Lipor at Porto) in 2000. Both treat more than 1000 tonnes of waste per day and produce electricity, corresponding to a power supply capacity of 150,000 inhabitants per year. The Mechanical treatment destination, which consists in removing or processing recyclable waste from a mixed waste stream, only appeared in 2013. In 2017, the main destination of Portuguese waste was the "Landfill" (32%), followed by "Organic recovery" (30%), "Incineration/ energy recovery" (21%), "Material recovery" (11%), "Mechanical treatment" (6%) and "Dumps" (0%).
As Figure 17 shows, the packaging recycling of paper/cardboard, plastic, and metal only started in 1998/99. In general, all recycling rates showed a growing trend. The annual average growth rates were 1.3% for glass, 1.4% for paper/cardboard, 2.3% for plastic, and 3.3% for metal. Between 1988 and 2016, the recycling rate of glass packaging increased from 16.4%, to 59%. In the period 1998-2016, the recycling rate of paper/cardboard increased from 48% to 70%. The highest value occurred in 2008 (88%). As for the plastic packaging, in 1998 its recycling rate was 4%, increasing to 42% in 2016. In the period 1999-2015, the recycling rate of metal increased from 1% to 64%.    Figure  18).
Regarding the energy produced from Renewable Energy Sources (RES), the hydric component (hydroelectric power) was the main contributor to the production of renewable energy in Portugal, in an early stage. However, since 2006 the other RES began to contribute more to this production. In 2017, Portugal's energy produced from RES was mainly due to the mix "Wind" (12,000 GWh) and "Hydro" (7500 GWh), followed by the components "Biomass + Solid Urban Waste (SUW) + Biogas" (3200 GWh), "Photovoltaic" (1000 GWh) and "Geothermal" (200 GWh). The share of RES in total electricity produced showed a growing trend, with an average growth rate of 1% per year. In 1994, this share was 36%, reaching its maximum in 2016 (62%). In 2017 this share was 44%. Despite its growing trend, the share of RES in total electricity produced fluctuated greatly, mainly because of the variation of hydroelectric production. In the years 1995,1999,2002,2004,2005,2012, 2015 and 2017, growth falls were registered, owing to the occurrence of droughts in those years (drop in hydroelectric production) (see Figure 19).  Table 3 summarizes the performance of Portugal with respect to trend and target-based evaluation. In terms of trend-based evaluation, eleven out of eighteen indicators showed positive trend with significant progress (green), one indicator showed little progress (yellow), and six indicators showed a negative trend (red).

Water Consumption
The volume of water consumed and abstracted showed an increasing trend.
Drinking-water Quality Despite the positive evolution the target was not met. However, it's very close to be achieved.

Bathing Water Quality
The progress was very positive. In 2016, less than 1% of coastal and transitional bathing waters, and 0% of inland waters were classified with "Bad" quality.
Air Quality

Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The target of limiting GHG emissions growth to 27% compared to 1990 was met, increasing only 19%.

Air Temperature
This indicator showed a deteriorating trend, with an increase and decrease of almost 1˚C of the average of the maximum and minimum temperature, respectively.

Air Quality
The air quality showed a positive evolution. In 2016, more than 90% of the days registered "Very Good" and "Good" AQI, and less than 1% registered "Bad/Weak".

Land Use Land Use and Land Cover
This indicator showed a deteriorating trend. Since 1986 the artificial surfaces have increased, while natural vegetation, and agriculture areas have been replaced.

Nature and Biodiversity Conservation
Classified Areas for Nature and Biodiversity Conservation The target was not met. The growth of classified areas was feeble, and despite the positive evolution of protected areas with spatial plan, only one protected area is covered by management plan.

Surveillance of Protected Areas
Since 1990, the surface of protected areas per nature ranger increased. In 2017, there were only 118 nature rangers for mainland Portugal.
Environmental Risks Forest fires The target of 100,000 ha of burnt area by 2012 was not met, and in 2017 more than 450,000 ha were burnt.

Urban Waste
Waste Production The target of reducing 225,000 tons of urban waste, from 2005 to 2015 was not met. In this period it increased 20,000 tons.

Waste Management
Although the targets of composting, incineration, and mechanic treatment have been met, the targets of landfill disposal and recycling are still not being achieved. The landfill disposal needs to decrease 6%, and the recycling needs to increase 8%.

Recycling and Valorization of Urban Waste
The recycling targets were met for all types of packaging waste.

Energy Primary Energy Production and Consumption
The target of reducing 2.6 Mtoe of the final energy consumption by 2015 was met, with a reduction of 5.5 Mtoe.

Electricity Consumption Produced from Renewable Energy Sources
The target of achieving 39% of electricity produced from RES by 2010 was met, producing more than 50% for that year.

Energy and Carbon Intensity of the Economy
The progress of this indicator was very positive. It showed an evolution to an economy with lower energy consumption, and with less carbon emitted per unit of wealth produced.
In terms of target-based evaluation, Portugal met five out of eleven targets, with successes relating to population served with water supply systems, GHG emissions, recycling and valorization of urban waste, primary energy production and consumption, and electricity consumption produced from RES. Four indicators showed positive development; still insufficient but close to achieving the targets. The forest fires, and waste production indicators did not meet the targets and are far from achieving them. Table 3 summarizes the justifications and explanations.
For three indicators (population served by wastewater drainage and treatment systems, drinking-water quality, and waste management indicators), despite the positive progress over the years, the targets were not achieved. Note also that there are seven indicators for which Portugal did not apply any targets (grey). Table 4 shows that 11 of the 18 selected indicators are related to the 2030 Agenda goals. The match between SIDS and SDG indicators reveals that 8 of the SDG targets can be evaluated. These targets are related to Goals 6 ("Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all"), 7 ("Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all"), 11 ("Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable"), 12 ("Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns"), and 15 ("Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss") [22]. Table 4 identifies SDG indicators and their match with SIDS indicators, and their corresponding SDG targets. It also shows the year from which these indicators can be evaluated in Portugal (data availability).

Discussion
During the last decades, the EU has developed a large range of environmental legislation, to reduce significantly water, air, and soil pollution. According to the European Commission, "the EU has nowadays one of best water qualities in the world, and over 18% of the EU's territory has been designated as protected areas" [24].
In order to provide a general policy framework for the EU's environment policy, 7 Environmental Action Programmes were developed. The Environmental Action Programmes, defining the most important medium and long-term goals, have guided European environment policy since the early 1970s. The 4th Environmental Action Programme (1987-1992) marks a turning point in European environmental policy. With this programme, environmental policy came to be seen as part of the economic decision-making process, and not as an additive/corrective policy. For the first time, incentive-based instruments were set, such as taxes, subsidies or tradable emission permits [25]. The 5th Environmental Action Programme (1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000), was prepared alongside the Rio Conference (1992) and Agenda 21, and represented the first commitment of the Community towards sustainable development [26]. The 6th Environmental Action Programme (2002-2012) sets out a framework of general objectives, on key issues, such as climate change, biodiversity threats, excessive consumption of resources, recycling, soil, and fresh air [25]. The 7th Environment Action Programme (2014-2020) will guide European environment policy until 2020. This programme aims to increase the ecological resilience of the EU economy, and transform the European economy to provide a green, sustainable and inclusive growth [24].  [27]. classified with "Excellent" was 69.6%, and the EU-28 average was 82% [11] (see Table 5). The increasing trend of the volume of water consumed and abstracted can be explained by several factors: population growth, the new consumption habits [28], more tourism activity, water losses in transport and distribution systems, and inefficient water use [29]. Since 2000, significant investments have reduced losses in storage, transportation and distribution systems. These efforts resulted from legal obligations, such as the EU Water Framework Directive. In 2000, 40% of the water abstracted was lost [28], decreasing to 20% in 2016 [30].  drop in hydroelectric production, because of the drought that occurred then [31]. Portugal is one of the European Union countries with the lowest GHG emissions per capita. Since 1990, these emissions were always below the EU-28 average. In 2016, the EU-28 average was 8.7 tonnes per capita, and the Portuguese GHG emissions were 6.9 tonnes per capita [11] (see Table 5). The GHG emissions are one of the main causes of global warming, since the mid-twentieth century. Despite the increasing number of climate change mitigation policies, GHG emissions continue to increase, leading to extreme climatic events [32]. The implementation of EU policies, such as the National Emission Ceilings Directive, and the Directive for ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe (Di-rective 2008/50/EC), contributed to the positive evolution of air quality in Portugal [33] The directive's targets, of achieving an effective protection of both human health and environment against risks from air pollution throughout the EU, apply through the EU's Fifth and Sixth Environmental Action Programmes. Table 5 shows that the number of citizens exposed in urban centres to air pollution is below the EU-28 average [34].
Several factors, such as rural abandonment, absence of land use management, Portugal's climate conditions with rainy seasons followed by dry and hot periods, and the increase of highly flammable species, such as Pinus pinaster and Eucalyptus globulus contributed to the increase of forest fires in the country  together, and more waste is generated when the economy goes well [31]. Despite the waste production increase, according to Eurostat, in 2014 the Portuguese waste production (1200 kg per capita) was below the EU-28 average (1700 kg per capita) [11] (see Table 5).  Table 5).
Since 1995, the primary energy production of Portugal comes entirely from renewable energies [35]. According to Eurostat Table 5).
The discussion above reflects the trend-based evaluation presented in Table 3. More effort is necessary in regard to the indicators that did not meet the targets, such as forest fires, and waste production.
In 1986, by joining the EEC, Portugal began a period of severe reforms and big investments in infrastructures, largely because of the increase of trade ties and the inflow of EEC funds. As a result, a rapid acceleration of Portugal's economic growth followed [45]. This economic growth, and the subsequent economic crisis (2010-2014), influenced the evolution of almost all selected indicators, such as "population served with water supply systems", "population served by wastewater drainage and treatment systems", "GHG emissions", "land use and land cover", and "primary energy production and consumption".  According to García-Álvarez and Moreno [46], Sweden, Austria, Denmark, Italy and Germany are the EU-28 countries with the best scores in environmental performance assessment. These countries have been characterized by the deployment of suitable policies related to biodiversity, water, waste, energy, transport, and sustainable consumption, production and efficient use of resources. In terms of environmental performance assessment of EU-28 members, Portugal is in an intermediate position (position 14), right behind countries such as Finland, France, and the United Kingdom. According to this study, Portugal is a success in terms of GHG emissions and renewable energies. This paper also notes that Portugal requires additional measures to promote efficient energy consumption in the transport sector as well as to develop a more efficient use of resources by increasing its resource productivity [46]. In the last 30 years, Portugal has shown a great evolution in environmental sustainability, and by pursuing the development of ambitious environmental policies, Portugal can achieve the levels of the top ranking countries.

Conclusions
Over the last decades, the EU has developed a large range of environmental policies and regulations. The accession of Portugal to the Treaty of Rome and thus membership of the European Economic Community in 1986 brought several benefits to the country. The support of EU funds and the development of environmental policies in Portugal, driven by community commitments, have been essential for Portugal's development. Portugal's standards have become closer to those of the EU and in several indicators even exceeded those requirements, for example Houses served with water supply systems, and proportion of land area covered by Natura 2000 Network.
In this paper, indicators from the Portuguese "Sustainable Development Indicators System" have been selected to characterize the evolution of environmental sustainability of Portugal, in the last 30 years. The 18 selected indicators have been grouped into 7 sectors (Water, Air Quality, Land Use, Nature and Biodiversity Conservation, Environmental Risks, Urban Waste, and Energy). For each selected indicator, the "Traffic Light System" approach was applied in order to measure trend-based and target-based progress of the indicators. The selected indicators that could evaluate the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development have been identified.
The results suggest Portugal's environmental sustainability evolved remarkably in the last 30 years. The water, air quality, urban waste, and energy sectors showed good results in most indicators. But land use, nature and biodiversity conservation, and environmental risks sector were not so positive. In terms of target-based evaluation, Portugal met five out of eleven targets, with successes relating to population served with water supply systems, GHG emissions, recycling and valorization of urban waste. For the indicators that did not meet the targets, such as forest fires, and waste production, more efforts are necessary. In terms of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the performance of the SDGs 6, 7, 11, 12, and 15 in Portugal can be evaluated since 1987, using 11 of the 18 selected indicators. In the context of the EU, Portugal achieved better results than the EU-28 average in 11 indicators related to water supply systems, wastewater drainage and treatment, coastal and transitional bathing waters quality, GHG emissions, air pollution, Natura 2000 network, waste production, primary energy consumption, and renewable energies. Portugal still needs to pursue continuous development of ambitious environmental policies, in order to achieve the levels of the top countries, but the general trend of improvement is significant. In our common progress towards sustainable development, it is clear that sound public environmental policies do have dramatic effects on the quality of life.