A new report from the European Commission’s Directorate General for the Environment has estimated the true cost to the EU of unimplemented environmental laws in 2018.
The costs of €55 billion ($62 billion) were the result of EU Member States not fully achieving the targets set out by EU environmental legislations across seven policy areas: Air, nature and biodiversity, water, waste, chemicals, industrial emissions and major accident hazards, and horizontal instruments, British independent consultancy Eunomia found, in conjunction with global consultancy COWI.
Not implementing EU environmental law results in negative outcomes across all aspects of society, the report claimed, with these negative outcomes ranging from reduced biodiversity and increased illness from air and noise pollution, to unrealised market opportunities.
The size of the implementation gaps was calculated using the difference between estimates of the 2018 environmental status in each policy area and the respective environmental targets.
The aim of the report was to provide an up-to-date estimate of the costs and foregone benefits from not fully achieving the environmental targets specified in the EU legislation. A benefit of providing an estimate for 2018 is that this year is covered by the second round of the Environmental Implementation Review (EIR) reports, a tool launched by the European Commission to improve implementation of EU environmental law and policy; hence, the new study was able to both benefit from and feed into the EIR process.
COWI led the study on five of the seven areas, with Eunomia contributing their expertise on waste and industrial emissions. Lead author from COWI, and overall project leader, Peter G. Madsen, said:
“An estimate of the costs to the society of not fully achieving the environmental targets specified in the EU legislation is obviously connected with uncertainty. To encourage that the estimate is widely accepted among stakeholders, we have applied a transparent estimation method. We are thus positive to have provided a quality evidence base for policy making that also can be updated in the future.”
“It is crucial to understand the effects failing to meet environmental targets has on the EU economy,” Eunomia’s lead author, Tanzir Chowdhury, added. “This report clearly shows how important it is to ensure that Member States are complying with environmental legislation: meeting the targets will result in stronger economies, better public health, and, of course, a diverse natural environment for our children to enjoy well into the future.”
