Trends in an Environmental Nitrogen Management Index across Europe reveal progress since 1980s but also required considerable improvements

Abstract Nitrogen (N) inefficiency threatens both environmental sustainability and food production in European agriculture, with many regions facing high levels of N pollution. Addressing the dual challenge of sustaining productivity while reducing environmental harm requires an integrated, spatially explicit indicator. We present the Environmental Nitrogen Management Index (ENMI) — a threshold-based, composite indicator that captures agricultural productivity (N yield relative to regional target yield) and environmental pressure (N surplus relative to regional safe N surplus). ENMI ranges from 0 (worst) to 1 (sustainable: no adverse impacts at target yield). Applied across EU sub-national regions from the 1960s to 2010s, ENMI rose from 0.07 to 0.21, with disparities from 0.76 in Switzerland to below 0.1 in parts of Eastern Europe. A 2030 scenario analysis shows that ambitious N input cuts improve environmental outcomes but reduce yields. ENMI offers a transparent basis to assess sustainability progress and guide policy interventions on N management.