Industrial pollution in Europe

What are the trends in releases to air from industry?

Industrial CO₂ emissions are reported under the Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Mechanism Reporting (GHG MMR) and decreased between 2007 and 2017. Large industrial facilities report releases of air pollutants to the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR; this dataset only covers releases from larger facilities involved solely in certain activities and data, therefore, contain the majority of — but not all — industrial releases). E-PRTR releases also declined for all major air pollutants between 2007 and 2017. During the same period, the value that industry generated for the European economy — as measured in industry gross added value (GVA) — has increased (Figure 1). In other words, European industry is reported to be less emission intensive as the ratio of air pollutant releases generated to production of industrial goods and energy decreases. Figure 1, however, clearly shows that lower economic activity during the financial crisis was reflected in lower releases to air during that time.

Among other reasons, the decrease in pollutant releases can be attributed to increased regulation (such as the EU Emissions Trading System and the Industrial Emissions Directive), improvements in energy efficiency, adaptation of better technologies and, in some cases, the relocation of various heavy polluting and energy intensive manufacturing industries (such as textile or metal production) outside Europe.

Overall, industrial releases of SO_x decreased by almost 80 % during this period and PM₁₀ by more than 60%. Other emissions decreased to a lesser extent: CO₂ (-12 %), NMVOCs (-40 %), NO_x (-49 %) and aggregated heavy metals (Cd, Hg and Pb) (-47 %).

Large combustion plants (LCPs) — including power plants, refineries or large chemical works and steelworks, and other facilities relying on the large scale burning of fuel — illustrate this trend. Europe’s LCPs have significantly improved their environmental performance over the past decade, releasing fewer emissions of SO_x, NO_x and dust to air per unit of energy consumed. Their environmental performance is tracked by the EEA’s Emissions of air pollutants from LCPs indicator.

In 2017, industry was responsible for over half of all anthropogenic emissions to air of CO₂, SO_x, NMVOC and the heavy metals Cd, Hg and Pb across the EEA-33 (Figure 2). It further contributed to emissions of NO_x and PM₁₀, albeit to a lesser degree.

There are several key industrial sectors for emissions of air pollutants:

• - Energy supply was responsible for a large fraction of many air pollutants and accounted for more than 30 % of total air pollutant emissions of Hg, CO₂ and SOx. 
• - Ferrous metal production also contributed to emissions of heavy metals to air.
• - Chemicals manufacturing was responsible for 19 % of PM₁₀ emissions.
• - Other manufacturing processes emitted almost 40 % of NMVOC releases.

What are the trends in releases to water from industry?

Data on industrial releases to water reveal a more differentiated situation than those for releases to air. Releases of nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) have been largely stable since 2007. Emissions of heavy metals (Cd, Hg, Pb and Ni) have decreased significantly since 2007. The decrease in releases of heavy metals is largely driven by decreasing releases of lead. Overall, releases for all the above mentioned pollutants to water were lower in 2017 than in 2007, despite an 11 % increase (corrected for inflation) in industry GVA during the same period (Figure 3). Trends in industrial emissions to European water are further explored in an EEA report (https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/industrial-emissions-to-water-decreased).

Three industry sub-sectors together account for the vast majority of E-PRTR releases to water. Chemical production is responsible for the largest share of releases (51 % of the total), followed by waste water treatment plants (21 %), and extractive industries (16 %). It is important to note that waste water treatment plants receive waste water from elsewhere (and not only from industry) and are not themselves the original source of pollution.

Is there a link between soil contamination and industrial activity?

Local soil contamination in 2011 was estimated at 2.5 million potentially contaminated sites in the EEA-39[1], of which only around 45 % have been identified to date. These estimates are based on a study by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in participating EEA member and cooperating countries, and include sites contaminated by all types of activity. Although these data are not complete for all EEA-33 countries, the study is nonetheless illustrative of the links between various human activities and soil contamination. It suggests that the entire production sector is responsible for an estimated 60 % of these sites. We can therefore foresee that industry is probably a significant contributor to local soil contamination. Figure 4 shows the main contaminants affecting soil in and around contaminated sites across Europe. Soil contamination and sources for these data are presented in a separate EEA/JRC indicator on Progress in management of contaminated sites.

What are the trends in waste generation from industry?

The E-PRTR contains data on off-site transfers of waste from industrial facilities (Figure 5). Off-site transfers of waste in the E-PRTR include only waste in excess of 2 tonnes per year for hazardous waste and 2 000 tonnes per year for non-hazardous waste. Using data from off-site transfers can also lead to double-counting because the same waste is often transferred by more than one facility. Off-site transfers can, nonetheless, be used as a proxy for waste sent for treatment by industrial facilities.

Overall, the data on off-site transfers of waste by industry are relatively stable over the years 2007-2015 (Figure 5). Important industrial sources of waste transfer include energy supply, extractive industries, and food and drink industries. Waste transferred by energy supply decreased between 2007 and 2017 but transfers by extractive industries remained stable. Transfers of food and drink waste, on the other hand, were erratic over the same period of time, which is likely linked to fluctuations in this industrial sub-sector. In 2017, 86 % of off-site transfers of industrial waste were transfers of non-hazardous waste. Waste transferred from waste and wastewater treatment facilities (68 % of all off-site transfers recorded in E-PRTR in 2017) is excluded from this analysis because it includes amounts originating from non-industrial sources and secondary waste (essentially waste originating from the treatment of waste, which can originate from both industrial and non-industrial sources). 

Eurostat separately collects statistics on waste generation in Europe every 2 years. According to this data source, in 2016, industry was responsible for 30 % of a total of 914 million tonnes of waste (excluding major mineral waste) generated in the EEA-33 (excluding Switzerland and Turkey for which Eurostat has no data or incomplete data). Waste and wastewater treatment were responsible for an additional 28 % of waste generated and services, households, construction and other sectors for the remaining 42 %. According to Eurostat, the waste generated by industry can, in large part, be attributed to energy production (8 % of the total waste generated in 2014 according to Eurostat), ferrous metal production (6 %) and pulp, paper and wood production (4,5 %). Further, waste data from Eurostat and the E-PRTR cannot be compared in absolute terms because of the differing scope and thresholds mentioned above.

Indicator definition

This indicator provides an overview of industrial pollution in Europe. This includes the contribution of industry to air and water emissions, soil contamination and waste generation. Trends in industrial pollutant releases to air and water, and industrial transfers of waste are also highlighted.

Units

The units used in this indicator are tonnes of waste transferred per year. The use of indices and percentages means that no other units were used for the indicator.

Policy context and targets

Context description

The EU Industrial Policy Strategy was mentioned above already. It covers a plethora of topics ranging from cyber security to sustainable finance but, importantly, also includes goals for a low-carbon and circular economy.

Accordingly, the aim of the EU policy is to reduce emissions to air, water and land, including measures related to waste, in order to achieve a high level of protection of the environment as a whole.

The Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) (EC, 2010) is a key regulatory instrument with which the EU is achieving emission reductions in the industrial sector. It superseded the Industrial Pollution Prevention and Control Directive (IPPCD) by harmonising it with a number of other related regulations and directives such as the Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD).

The IED:

• is designed to take into account the whole environmental performance of an installation;
• establishes the obligations for competent authorities to grant integrated permits where emission limit values are set based on best available techniques (BAT);
• enables Member States to be flexible where necessary;
• requires environmental inspections;
• enables public participation in the decision-making process.

According to the IED, around 50 000 industrial installations are required to operate under a permit (which itself is granted by authorities at the Member State level). Importantly, in the context of this indicator, permit conditions including emission limit values must be based on BATs. BAT refers to the most effective, and economically and technically viable methods of operation that reduce emissions and the impact on the environment.

To define BAT, the European Commission organises an exchange of information between Member State experts, industry and environmental organisations. This process results in the production of BAT reference documents (BREFs). Each BREF contains information on the techniques and processes used in a specific industrial sector in the EU, current emission and fuel consumption trends, and techniques to consider for the determination of BATs, as well as emerging techniques. The conclusions on BAT, for each BREF, are subsequently adopted as a legal act so that they are legally binding for the granting of permits. 

An up-to-date list of BREFs and associated binding BAT conclusions containing the emission limit values for a host of different industrial activities can be found on the website of the Joint Research Centre .

Next to the IED, which is very much a regulation attempting to control pollution at source, there are a number of additional pieces of environmental legislation at the European level that address industrial activities including those setting overall emission limits, those requiring reporting of emissions and waste generated, and those stipulating better environmental quality: 

• The National Emission Ceilings Directive (NECD): The National Emission Ceilings Directive sets national emission reduction commitments for Member States and the EU for five important air pollutants: nitrogen oxides (NOx), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), sulphur dioxide (SO2), ammonia (NH3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5). These pollutants contribute to poor air quality, leading to significant negative impacts on human health and the environment.
• The European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR): Facilities involved in certain activities and above certain thresholds must report to the E-PRTR on releases of pollutants, off-site transfers of waste and pollutants in wastewater, and releases of pollutants from diffuse sources.
• The Water Framework Directive (WFD): The purpose of this directive is to establish a framework for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater. The Directive requires Member States to manage their distinct river basins appropriately and report on the status of water in each basin. This includes reporting on pollutant levels originating from industrial processes.
• The Waste Statistics Regulation (WStatR): The objective of this regulation is to ensure better monitoring of effective implementation of Community policy on waste management with regular, comparable, current and representative data on the generation, recycling, re-use and disposal of waste.

Targets

No target is specified.

Related policy documents

• DIRECTIVE 2003/87/EC
  The Directive establish a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amends Council Directive 96/61/EC
• Directive 2010/75/EC on industrial emissions
  Directive 2010/75/EC on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) The IED is the successor of the IPPC Directive and in essence, it is about minimising pollution from various industrial sources throughout the European Union. Operators of industrial installations operating activities covered by Annex I of the IED are required to obtain an integrated permit from the authorities in the EU countries. About 50.000 installations were covered by the IPPC Directive and the IED will cover some new activities which could mean the number of installations rising slightly.
• Directive 2016/2284/EU, national emission ceilings
  A new  National Emissions Ceilings (NEC) Directive (2016/2284/EU)  entered into force on 31 December 2016. Replacing earlier legislation, ( Directive 2001/81/EC ), the new NEC Directive sets 2020 and 2030 emission reduction commitments for five main air pollutants. It also ensures that the emission ceilings for 2010 set in the earlier directive remain applicable for Member States until the end of 2019
• Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 January 2006 concerning the establishment of a European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register
  Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 January 2006 concerning the establishment of a European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register
• Regulation (EU) No 525/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on a mechanism for monitoring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions
  Regulation (EU) No 525/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on a mechanism for monitoring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions and for reporting other information at national and Union level relevant to climate change and repealing Decision No 280/2004/EC Text with EEA relevance
• Water Framework Directive (WFD) 2000/60/EC
  Water Framework Directive (WFD) 2000/60/EC: Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy.

Methodology

Methodology for indicator calculation

Available data sources were already covered in the indicator justification above. Data on air pollutants are taken from the CLRTAP for an assessment of the significance of industry and from the E-PRTR to provide an assessment of trends in industrial releases of these pollutants over time.

Key air pollutants to be included in the indicator were chosen based on the following criteria:

Policy criteria:

• P1: the pollutant must be covered by the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) (EC, 2010)([1])

and

Pressures/Impacts criteria:

• P/I1: more than half of the emissions of the pollutant to air must have occurred within industry for at least one year between 2007 and the year for which the latest data are available, calculated via industry emission data in the E-PRTR, as a percentage of total emissions in national inventories

or

• P/I2: the proportion of the pollutant’s emissions to air within industry must be increasing (E-PRTR industry emissions as a percentage of national inventories, since 2007)
  
  

or

• P/I3: the pollutant must be responsible for the largest aggregate damage-associated costs by industrial facilities (calculated by the EEA (2014) report Costs of air pollution from European industrial facilities 2008–2012) ([2]).
  
  

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are not included because of the poor quality of data reported in the E-PRTR. The following table summarises the air pollutants that are included in the indicator:

Greenhouse gas data were deemed most reliable and complete in the MMR inventory. Key greenhouse gases were chosen based on the following criteria:

Policy criteria:

• P1: the pollutant must be covered by the EU Emissions Trading Directive (EC, 2003) ([3]) and the Monitoring Mechanism Regulation (EC, 2013) ([4])
  
  

and

Pressures/Impacts criteria:

• P/I1: more than half of the emissions of the greenhouse gas must have occurred within industry for at least 1 year between 1990 and the year for which the latest data are available, calculated via industry emission data reported under the MMR, as a percentage of total emissions in EEA-33 national inventories
  
  

and

• P/I2: the emissions of the greenhouse gas must have contributed more than 5 % to total CO₂e emissions from Annex I countries for at least 1 year between 1990 and the year for which the latest data are available.
  
  

F-gases are not included because of the reduced number of countries that report complete time series of emissions. The following table summarises the greenhouse gases that are included in the indicator.

Data on water pollutant emissions or releases from industry are only available in the E-PRTR and not for any non-industrial sectors. An assessment of the significance of industry is, therefore, not possible for water pollution. Key water pollutants were chosen based on the following criteria:

Policy criteria:

• P1: the pollutant must be covered by the IED (EC, 2010) ([1]), the Water Framework Directive (WFD) (EC, 2000) ([5]) or the OSPAR (Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic) list of chemicals for priority action
  
  

and

Pressures/Impacts criteria:

• P/I1: the pollutant must be highlighted as having a potentially significant impact on health in water (determined through the toxicity, bio-availability and bio-accumulation potential)

or

• P/I2: the pollutant must have significant eutrophication impacts on water and ecosystems

or

• P/I3: the substance must affect the oxygen balance of water.
  
  

The WFD’s list of priority substances covers 45 substances or groups of substances, of which 21 are priority hazardous substances ([5]). In 2018, there have been several activities to review and discuss the Water Framework Directive, including a 2 year initiative to support exchange between experts and competent authorities for the improvement of the Water Framework Directive. Although the E-PRTR covers these and other substances, the data quality and consistency of reporting across countries is sufficient for only a small selection of water pollutants. Pollutants outside this selection, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and dioxins and furans are not included because of the poor quality of the data reported in the E-PRTR. The table below summarises the water pollutants that are included. It must be emphasised that this list of pollutants does not cover numerous organic pollutants, pesticides and emerging compounds, such as pharmaceuticals and microplastics.

Data on industrial releases to land are incomplete in the E-PRTR and the above mentioned data on soil contamination from the JRC were chosen instead to illustrate the role of industrial activities in this respect. Due to the limited nature of data available, this indicator simply reuses what the JRC produced.

Statistics on waste originating from industry and other sources are available from Eurostat’s waste generation statistics. These statistics are used to assess the significance of industry in this context for both hazardous and non-hazardous waste generation. Eurostat’s statistics are, however, only available in a relatively aggregated format in the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE) code system. The assessment of trends for the various industrial sub-sectors is, therefore, based on the data on waste transfers reported to E-PRTR.

The different sources of data and statistics mentioned above rely on a variety of code systems to define industry and other economic sectors and activities:

• CLRTAP relies on the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) nomenclature for reporting of air pollutants (NFR);
• E-PRTR has its own annex with a list of industrial sub-sectors and activities;
• MMR uses the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) common reporting format (CRF);
• Eurostat has its own Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (or NACE codes).
  
  

The relations between the different code systems used here to assess the industrial sector and its sub-sectors are discussed in detail in the EEA's methodology report on Industrial Pollution Profiles, available here.

Methodology for gap filling

No gap filling was conducted.

Methodology references

No methodology references available.

Uncertainties

Methodology uncertainty

There are a number of uncertainties regarding the methodology used for this indicator. Some of them relate to data sources themselves (mentioned below), others to the link between them.

The link between the different data sources relies on a 'mapping' of industrial activities across them. The methodology for this process is described above. It contains uncertainties because it links different definitions of what industry is to each other. Uncertainties mostly arise in cases were data are only available at an aggregate level. A specific economic activity or sub-sector code, that is here considered to be related to industry, therefore, might contain non-industrial activities or sub-sectors.

Data sets uncertainty

The E-PRTR data set inherently contains uncertainties because it is reported. This means that facility operators report the data to competent authorities at varying levels of government in Member States. These data are, in some cases, measured, in some cases estimated and in others calculated. Each of these methods has its own associated uncertainties. The data are then passed on to various regional and national authorities before being reported to the EEA and the European Commission. It should further be noted that the E-PRTR only covers the industrial activities in its annex, and releases and transfers above specified thresholds. In addition, there are no data for Croatia for 2007-2013 in E-PRTR and the data set has not been gap-filled.

The following EPRTR data have been removed or modified being considered as outliers and waiting for more information from the owner:

The methodologies for conceiving national data reported to the GHG MMR and to the CLRTAP inventories also contain uncertainties usually associated with the modelling of emissions. Uncertainties associated with the GHG MMR data set are covered in detail in the specifications of the EEA Total greenhouse gas emission trends and projections indicator. Uncertainties of the CLRTAP data set, on the other hand, are described in the specifications of the EEA Emissions of the main air pollutants in Europe indicator.

The data underlying the assessment on soil contamination are taken directly from the JRC without any changes. Uncertainties associated with these data can be found in the specifications of the associated indicator on Progress in management of contaminated sites.

Eurostat statistics are the result of collecting national statistics via questionnaires. This process and the underlying process of gathering data at Member State level are prone to uncertainties. Uncertainties associated with Eurostat’s statistics on waste and annual national accounts can be found in the associated metadata here and here.

Rationale uncertainty

No uncertainty has been specified.