2023 environmental protection investment: €67 billion

Eurostat estimates that in 2023, EU countries invested about €67 billion into assets essential to provide environmental protection services. These services included wastewater treatment plants, vehicles to transport waste, acquisitions of land to create a natural reserve, or cleaner equipment for production.

About €40 billion (60% of total environmental protection investments) was spent by corporations, both the specialist providers of environmental protection services (e.g. private companies dealing with waste collection and processing and with sewerage) and corporations other than specialist producers, which purchase technologies and equipment reducing the environmental pressures arising from their production process (e.g. equipment reducing their air emissions). The general government and non-profit sector accounted for the remaining 40% investments.

Source dataset: env_ac_epigg1, env_ac_epissp1, env_ac_epiap1, nasa_10_nf_tr

The share of environmental protection investments in total investments was about 1.8% in 2023. More specifically, 1.7% of all investments of corporations were environmental protection investments, and 4.5% of all general government investments.

The largest amount of investments was related to wastewater and waste management services. In 2023, they accounted for 41.6% and 26.6% of the total investments for environmental protection, respectively. Air protection accounted for 10.4% of investments for environmental protection. General environmental administration, R&D and protection against radiation accounted for 8.4%. Biodiversity and landscape protection accounted for 6.4%; soil and groundwater protection for 5.6% and noise reduction for the remaining 1.1%.

This article marks the World Environment Day celebrated annually on 5 June.