Heavy metal emissions in Europe

Heavy metals accumulate in ecosystems and damage human health. In accordance with the European Union’s commitments under the UNECE Air Convention, specific legislation has led to reductions in heavy metal emissions to air across Europe from 1990 levels. Between 2005 and 2023, emissions have continued to decline, with cadmium emissions decreasing by 43%, mercury emissions by 57% and lead emissions by 46% across the EU-27 Member States. Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain contributed the most to heavy metal emissions in the EU during 2023.

Figure 1. Emission trends of primary heavy metals in EU-27 between 2005 and 2023, presented as a percentage of their level in 2005

Heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb) are toxic to human health, animals and plants. The atmospheric deposition of heavy metals leads to exposure of ecosystems and organisms. This can lead to bioaccumulation in the food chain, with damaging effects on human health. Reducing heavy metal emissions is therefore a recognised objective for the European Union (EU) and internationally.

The EU is a party to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (UNECE Air Convention). The Air Convention is a pan-European framework for reducing air pollution including heavy metals (under the Aarhus Protocol on Heavy Metals). Mercury emissions are also controlled by the United Nations Environment Programme Minamata Convention.

The National Emission reduction Commitments Directive (NECD) requires Member States to provide annual inventories of heavy metal emissions in the EU. Targeted legislation, such as the Industrial Emissions Directive and the European Industrial Emissions Portal Regulation, together with improvements in abatement technologies, have contributed to lower heavy metal emissions. Heavy metal concentrations in ambient air are above limit values in only a few areas in Europe. These are typically linked to specific industrial plants.

Between 2005 and 2023, emissions of Cd, Hg and Pb declined in EU-27 Member States by 43%, 57% and 46%, respectively. The industrial processes and product use sector still accounts for the majority of Cd, Hg and Pb emissions in the EU, although emissions from this sector have declined since 2005.

The sharp decline in heavy metal emissions between 2008 and 2009 coincides with the economic downturn at that time.

Figure 2. Changes in emission of primary heavy metals by EU Member State in 2023 compared to 2005 levels

Between 2005 and 2023, most EU-27 Member States reduced their heavy metal emissions. In some Member States, however, the emissions increased during this period. This is not necessarily a cause for concern as the increases are relatively small in absolute emissions from low baseline levels. This is the case for instance in Estonia and Lithuania.

In 2023, the countries with the highest emissions were Germany, Poland, Spain and Italy, accounting for around half of total EU emissions for all three heavy metals. Despite higher emissions compared to other Member States, these Member States have reduced their emissions of all three heavy metals since 2005.

Supporting information

Definition

This indicator tracks trends in anthropogenic emissions of heavy metals over time, since 2005. Heavy metals (such as Cd, Hg and Pb) are known to be directly toxic to biota. All heavy metals are progressively accumulated relatively high up the food chain, such that chronic exposure of lower organisms to relatively low concentrations of heavy metals can lead to the exposure of predatory organisms, including humans, to potentially harmful concentrations. They are of concern for human health because of their toxicity, their potential to cause cancer and their ability to cause harmful effects even at low concentrations. Their toxic/carcinogenic potencies are metal/compound specific.

Methodology

This indicator is based on the national total and sectoral emissions data that are officially reported to the EEA and the Co-operative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe (EMEP) under the UNECE Air Convention. The data are consistent with the emissions data reported by the EU in its annual submission to the UNECE Air Convention.

Recommended methodologies for emission inventory estimation are included in the EMEP/EEA air pollutant emission inventory guidebook. The original Member State submissions are available from the EEA Data Service. For the collated EU dataset, where necessary, gaps in reported data are filled by the EEA (see "Methodology for gap-filling" below). The final gap-filled data used in this indicator are available from the EEA DataHub.

The gap-filling methodology enables a complete time-series trend to be compiled despite gaps in the data reported by a Member State. It applies a stepwise approach using emission data from other

reporting obligations to fill gaps in the national data sets, followed by further gap-filling

procedures such as interpolation or extrapolation and manual changes. For the pollutants for which a country did not report emissions for any year, gap-filling cannot be performed. For these pollutants, therefore, the aggregated data for the EU are not complete and are likely to underestimate true emissions. Further methodological details of the gap-filling procedure are provided in the European Union emission inventory report 1990-2023 under the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (Air Convention).

Policy/environmental relevance

Exposure to heavy metals has been linked to adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in children, including impaired cognitive and behavioural development. It is also linked to various cancers, kidney damage and even death in case of exposure to very high concentrations. Their possible carcinogenic, immunological and reproductive effects are of major concern, but more recently concern has also been expressed over their possible harmful effects on human development.

Coupled with improved control and abatement techniques, targeted international and EU legislation has led to good progress being made in most EEA member countries towards reducing heavy metal emissions.

Such legislation includes:

the Minamata Convention on Mercury — a global, legally binding treaty — was agreed on by governments in January 2013 and formally adopted as international law on 10 October 2013;

the 1998 Aarhus Protocol on Heavy Metals (UNECE Air Convention), which targets three particularly harmful substances — Cd, Hg and Pb — and obliges parties to reduce their emissions of these heavy metals from 1990 levels (or an alternative year between 1985 and 1995);

the new Industrial and Livestock Rearing Emissions Directive 2024/1785 (IED 2.0) is the main EU instrument to reduce these emissions into air, water and land, and to prevent waste generation from large industrial installations. It amends the Directive 2010/75/EU on industrial emissions, which aimed to prevent or minimise pollution of water, air and soil; this directive targets certain industrial, agricultural and waste treatment installations;

the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) Regulation (166/2006/EC) which requires that emissions of a number of heavy metals released from certain industrial facilities are estimated and reported;

Directive (EU) 2024/2881 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe amends and recasts Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and Directive 2004/107/EC concerning heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air. The revised Directive introduces updated provisions, including new target and limit values, aimed at further controlling air pollutants. A key change regarding arsenic, cadmium, and nickel is that, starting from 12 December 2026, their regulatory status will shift from target values to limit values to be attained in 2030.

There are also several specific EU environmental quality and emission standards for heavy metals in coastal and inland waters, drinking waters, etc. These have only indirect relevance to air emissions, as they do not directly specify emission or precipitation quality requirements, but rather specify the required quality of receiving waters. Such measures include the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC).

Accuracy and uncertainties

Methodological uncertainty

The use of gap filling for countries that have not reported emissions for one or more years can potentially lead to artificial trends but is considered unavoidable for obtaining a comprehensive and comparable set of emissions data for European countries for policy analysis purposes.

Data sets uncertainty

The certainty of the emissions data for Pb varies over the time series. This is because different source sectors have dominated at different times as a result of the very significant reductions in emissions from key sources in 1990, notably from the road transport sector. The Pb emission estimates from key sources in 1990 were based on measured concentrations of Pb in fuels, which were tightly regulated prior to being phased out in the late 1990s. This gives a high degree of confidence in the estimates for the fuel combustion sources that dominated emissions in the early 1990s but are now much reduced. In more recent years, to which this indicator relates, the level of emissions is estimated to be very much lower, and emissions are derived from a smaller number of sources.

Rationale uncertainty

This indicator is regularly updated by the EEA and is used in state-of-the-environment assessments. The uncertainties related to the methodology and the data sets are therefore of importance. Any uncertainties in the calculations and data sets need to be accurately communicated in the assessment, to prevent erroneous information from influencing policy actions or processes.

Additional reading

CEIP, 2025, ‘EMEP Centre on Emission Inventories and Projections’, Centre on Emission Inventories and Projections (https://www.ceip.at) accessed 2 September 2025.

UNECE, 2024, ‘Air’ (https://unece.org/environment-policy/air) accessed 2 September 2025.

Data sources and providers

Metadata

DPSIRTopicsTagsTemporal coverageGeographic coverage

TypologyUN SDGsUnit of measureFrequency of dissemination

Heavy metal emissions in Europe

Figure 1. Emission trends of primary heavy metals in EU-27 between 2005 and 2023, presented as a percentage of their level in 2005

Figure 2. Changes in emission of primary heavy metals by EU Member State in 2023 compared to 2005 levels

Supporting information

Metadata

References and footnotes