European Union member states collectively invested around €76 billion in environmental protection services last year, according to new data from Eurostat.
Among the main focus areas of this investment were wastewater treatment facilities, vehicles for waste transportation, the acquisition of land to develop nature reserves, and cleaner production equipment.
Around two thirds (61.4%) of the funding, or €47 billion, was spent by corporations on technology and equipment to reduce environmental pressures from their industrial and production operations, such as emissions reduction equipment.
The remaining 38.6% of investments came from general government bodies and non-profit organisations.
Environmental protection represented 2% of all capital investment made in the EU in 2024, Eurostat’s data showed.
Environmental spend by segment
On a segment-by-segment basis, the largest share of environmental protection funding was allocated to wastewater treatment (38.2%) and waste management services (24.8%).
Investments in wastewater management included investments in processes to reduce water pollutants or wastewater generated during production, investments in operation, maintenance and repair of sewerage networks and of sewage treatment plants, treatment of cooling water, and treatment of sewage sludge for disposal.
Other areas to receive investment funding included radiation protection, environmental research and development (14%), air and climate protection (11.2%), soil and groundwater protection (5.6%), biodiversity and landscape conservation (5.2%), and noise reduction (1%).
Between 2006-2024, environmental protection investments in the EU increased from €52 billion to €76 billion.
The data is sourced from the Environmental Protection Expenditure Accounts (EPEA), which provide information on investment made to ‘protect natural assets (e.g. air, soil, water) as well as to prevent, contain and clean up pollution related to them (e.g. waste and waste management)’, according to Eurostat. Read more here.
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