Industrial pollution costs the equivalent of  2% of the European Union’s economic output each year, though the impact has declined over the past decade, the bloc’s environmental agency said Thursday (25 January).

Costs of air pollution caused by Europe’s largest industrial plants are “substantial,” averaging between €268 billion to €428 billion per year, the Copenhagen-based European Environmental Agency said in a report.

For 2021, the most recent year available, the costs corresponded to about 2% of the EU’s gross domestic product.

However, thanks to better technologies, less polluting fuels, and the rollout of renewable energies, those costs have declined by about a third (-33%) since 2012, the EEA said.

“The EUenergy sector has accounted for the vast majority — about 80% — of the total decrease, mainly by adopting best available techniques (BAT) and shifting to renewables and less polluting fuels largely as result of EU action,” the EEA said.

The agency said that just 1%, or 107, of the most polluting industrial facilities – many of them coal power plants – caused half of the total damage.

Nine of the 50 most polluting plants were in Germany and six in Poland, it said.

Strengthened EU regulations such as the recently updated Industrial Emissions Directive and the ongoing revision of the EU Air Quality Directive are expected to bring pollution limits closer to World Health Organisation guidelines, added the the Copenhagen-based agency.

Fuente: Euractiv