EU-27 industrial air pollution costs 2012-2021

The annual cost of air pollution from the largest industrial plants in the European Union (EU-27) averaged between 268 and 428 billion euros per year from 2012 to 2021. Although costs decreased in 2021, damages from industrial air pollution still represented roughly two percent of the EU's GDP that year. Approximately half of these costs were attributable to just one percent of the most polluting industrial facilities studied, the majority of which were coal power plants. Nevertheless, the economic damages caused by polluting industrial facilities have fallen by roughly 33 percent since 2012, owing to factors such as to better technologies, less polluting fuels, and the rollout of renewable energies.

Economic costs of air pollution from the largest industrial plants in the European Union (EU-27) from 2012 to 2021 (in billion euros)

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Release date

January 2024

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Region

Europe, EU

Survey time period

2012 to 2021

Special properties

Euro price base: 2021. Based on air pollution from the 10,000 largest facilities in Europe.

Supplementary notes

Value of statistical life (VSL): an estimate of damage costs based on the value a given population places ex ante on avoiding the death of an individual. VSL is based on the sum of money each individual is prepared to pay for a given reduction in the risk of premature death, for example from diseases linked to air pollution.

Value of a life year (VOLY): an estimate of damage costs based on the potential years of life lost (YOLL) from a specific risk, based on an estimated life expectancy, and then evaluated by multiplying them by the VOLY. Therefore, the result is affected by the age at which deaths occur.

The geographical scope of the industrial facilities included in the assessment focuses only on the EU-27. However, the impact of the EU facilities is still calculated for countries beyond the EU-27, (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, and Turkey). This means that the analysis now strongly focuses on the impacts of the EU’s industry on the EU and neighboring countries.

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