A significant reduction in the consumption of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) has been achieved by the EEA-33 countries since 1986. This reduction has largely been driven by the 1987 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Montreal Protocol.
Since the introduction of the Montreal Protocol, European consumption (EEA-28 in 1986) has fallen from approximately 343 000 ozone-depleting potential (ODP) tonnes to around zero in 2002, where it has remained ever since.
The European Union (EU) has taken additional measures to reduce the consumption of ODS by means of EU law since the early 1990s. In many aspects, the current EU regulation on substances that deplete the ozone layer (1005/2009/EC) goes further than the Montreal Protocol. It has also brought forward the phasing out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) in the EU.
Large combustion plants are responsible for a significant proportion of anthropogenic pollutant emissions.
Since 2004, emissions from large combustion plants in the 28 EU Member States have decreased, by 86 % for sulphur dioxide, 59 % for nitrogen oxides and 84 % for dust.
In 2017, from a total of 3 664 large combustion plants, 50 % of all emissions came from just 68, 141 and 58 plants for sulphur dioxide , nitrogen oxides and dust, respectively. However, the performances of these largest plants have improved greatly over time.
One indicator of the environmental performance of large combustion plants is the ratio between emissions and fuel consumption (i.e. the implied emission factor). The implied emission factors for all three pollutants decreased significantly between 2004 and 2017 for all sizes of large combustion plants.
There are 3 664 large combustion plants in the EU-28.
Installed capacity increased by 4 % overall between 2004 and 2017. The trend reached a maximum in 2012.
The use of biomass, tripled from 2004 to 2017, although it was still used in relatively low amounts (6 % of the total in 2017).
Solid fuels (coal, lignite, peat and other solid fossil fuels) and natural gas remain the main sources of fuel input but the amount used decreased by around 25 % in the period. This could reflect the shift in Europe’s energy system from oil, coal and gas to renewable sources.
The installed capacity of large combustion plants is not equally distributed across Europe: Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland, Spain and France ( in order of rank ), accounted for more than 65 % of total fuel input and operating capacity in 2017.
Industry is still a significant source of pollutant releases to Europe’s environment.
Releases of pollutants to air and water by European industry have generally decreased during the last decade.
Environmental regulation and improved pollutant abatement technology, among other factors, have led to decreasing pollutant releases to air and water in Europe.
Soil contamination in Europe is, among other things, linked to industrial activity.
Waste transfers from industrial facilities in the EU have remained relatively stable in the last decade.
Across the EEA-33 countries, emissions of lead (Pb) decreased by 93 %, mercury (Hg) by 72 % and cadmium (Cd) by 64 % from 1990.
The majority of the decrease in Pb emissions had occurred by 2004, mainly as a result of the phase out of leaded petrol across Europe.
Since 1990, the two sectors contributing most to the decrease in Hg emissions have been 'Energy use in industry' and 'Industrial processes and product use'.
The industry sector has accounted for 60 % of Cd emission reductions since 1990.
Since 1990, emissions of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) decreased in the EEA-33 countries, e.g. hexachlorobenzene (HCB) decreased by 95 %, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) by 75 %, dioxins and furans by around 70 % and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by 83 %.
The majority of countries report that POP emissions fell during the period 1990 to 2017.
In 2017, the most significant sources of emissions included the ‘Commercial, institutional and households’ and ‘Industrial processes and product use’ sectors.
Total annual quantities of waste generation across industry remained generally static over the period 2010-2016. Taking the reported industry gross value added (GVA) into consideration, waste generation per unit of industrial output may be showing limited signs of decreasing.
Data on E-PRTR waste movements (off-site transfers) from industrial sites does not indicate any significant downward trends in industrial waste transfers for hazardous or non-hazardous waste over the period 2007-2016.
Based on E-PRTR data, the overall percentage of waste being transferred for recovery was actually lower in 2016 than in 2007. The recovery trend within different industry sectors is variable, but the data do not suggest substantial progress in increasing the fraction of waste recovery.
Local soil contamination in 2011 was estimated at 2.5 million potentially contaminated sites in the EEA-39, of which about 45 % have been identified to date. About one third of an estimated total of 342 000 contaminated sites in the EEA-39 have already been identified and about 15 % of these 342 000 sites have been remediated. However, there are substantial differences in the underlying site definitions and interpretations that are used in different countries.
Four management steps are defined for the management and control of local soil contamination, namely site identification (or preliminary studies), preliminary investigations, main site investigations, and implementation of risk reduction measures. Progress with each of these steps provides evidence that countries are identifying potentially contaminated sites, verifying if these sites are actually contaminated and implementing remediation measures where these are required. Some countries have defined targets for the different steps.
Thirty of the 39 countries surveyed maintain comprehensive inventories for contaminated sites: 24 countries have central national data inventories, while six countries, namely Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany, Greece, Italy and Sweden, manage their inventories at the regional level. Almost all of the inventories include information on polluting activities, potentially contaminated sites and contaminated sites.
Contaminated soil continues to be commonly managed using “traditional” techniques, e.g. excavation and off-site disposal, which accounts for about one third of management practices. In-situ and ex-situ remediation techniques for contaminated soil are applied more or less equally.
Overall, the production sectors contribute more to local soil contamination than the service sectors, while mining activities are important sources of soil contamination in some countries. In the production sector, metal industries are reported as most polluting whereas the textile, leather, wood and paper industries are minor contributors to local soil contamination. Gasoline stations are the most frequently reported sources of contamination for the service sector.
The relative importance of different contaminants is similar for both liquid and solid matrices. The most frequent contaminants are mineral oils and heavy metals. Generally, phenols and cyanides make a negligible overall contribution to total contamination.
On average, 42 % of the total expenditure on the management of contaminated sites comes from public budgets. Annual national expenditures for the management of contaminated sites are on average about EUR 10.7 per capita. This corresponds to an average of 0.041 % of the national GDP. Around 81 % of the annual national expenditures for the management of contaminated sites is spent on remediation measures, while only 15 % is spent on site investigations.
It should be noted that all results derive from data provided by 27 (out of 39) countries that returned the questionnaire, and not all countries answered all questions.
The number of organisations registered under the EMAS standard rose by 50% during the period 2003-2010, while organisations from EU countries certified according to the international ISO 14001 standard more than quadrupled in the period 2001-2009. This indicates that private companies and public institutions in the EU are increasingly engaging in environmental management.
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