Environmental disruption in Europe

(1)

Environmental disruption in Europe

The differences between Eastern and Western Europe

Name: Chantal Leijendekker Number: 1257722

Project: Master thesis Master: Economic Policy

Subject: Environmental disruption in Europe Department: General Economics at the RUG Date: May 2006

(2)

I. Introduction

In the literature there is debate about whether economic growth can go hand in hand with environmental preservation. When economic decisions are made and economic growth and environmental preservation cannot be achieved together we have to think about future generations as well. When our consumption and investment patterns cause environmental disruption and a decline in the standard of living, future generations can be worse off than current generations because of scarcity of resources. Therefore there has to exists a trade off between sustainable growth, which is defined by no decline of the standard of living and no scarcity of resources, and economic growth. It would be optimal when sustainable growth can be achieved together with economic growth.

There will be economic problems when the quality of the environment declines. This happens when ecosystems are damaged, resources become depleted or when species become extinct. The environment provides resources that create economic value, so economic activity depends on the resources of the environment. The resources of the environment interact with economic growth. On the other hand, this economic growth may cause environmental disruptions and these environmental disruptions may cause less economic growth. In the year 2003 the cost of environmental damages for Europe as a whole came up to about ten billion euros1_{. These figures show an increasing trend. These} figures also point out that the upkeep of Europe’s natural resources is of increasing importance for the viability of Europe’s economic and social capital.

Not only economic growth is influenced by the environment. Diseases are also influenced by it. Environmental disruption can spread diseases, established and emerging ones. Here you can say that when people damage the environment, they hurt themselves. The World Health Organisation did research, that concluded that 25-50% of new infectious diseases are caused by this ecological impact. Also global warming is one of the examples caused by environmental disruption. Because of global warming certain species become extinct and land/areas disappear. Some of the major disruptive pressures for the environment are air and water pollution, deforestation and of course the expansion of the human population. Climate change will cause among other things droughts, floods, extreme weather, desertification and rising sea levels, which will force people to move because of loss of land. The disruption of the environment is also related to economic wealth. Poverty causes more disruption2_. A country becomes poor when it cannot keep up agriculture or another economic activity. Poverty worsens the environment because the people are not concerned with the environment. They are concerned with their survival and they may not have another choice than to further exploit the water, the forest and the ground.

1_{Source: Europees Milieuagentshap (2004), “EMA-signalen 2004“, Kopenhagen.}

2_{See Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (2005), “Background paper for Session III of the}

(4)

Europe is nowadays becoming more aware of the importance of preserving the environment while maintaining economic and sustainable growth. One of the issues that is high on the list for environmental improvements in Europe is energy. Energy is essential for the creation of social and economic well-being. Energy offers people comfort and is essential in the transport industry. Energy is also of major importance in the industry. However the generation and the consumption of energy creates a huge amount of environmental pollution.

The European countries have organised a programme for the environment, the Environment for Europe process. In order of this programme there have already been five ministerial meetings. The first conference that was held with all the environment ministers of the countries involved, was in 1991 in the former Czechoslovakia3_{. During this conference the ministers discussed the strengthening} of the cooperation of the European Union and the improvements for the environment. They also discussed an environmental action programme for the entire European Union. They organised a second conference in 1993 in Lucerne. Here they discussed among other things the financing of the environment. The third conference was held in 1995 in Sofia. Also here the main issue was environmental financing. The fourth conference was in Aarhus in 1998. At this conference the ministers came up with the integration policies for Europe concerning the environment. These policies are built on the aquis communautair that concern the topic energy. These policies state that,

1) The countries want to reduce the effects that the generation and consumption of energy has on

the environment,

2) they want to stimulate the efficiency in the usage of energy and they want to stimulate energy

preservation,

3) they want to increase the amount of “green” energy production and consumption.

Another major topic discussed at this conference is the development of the candidate countries in Eastern Europe concerning the environment. These countries are the ten candidate countries: Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and the Slovak Republic. These countries have to catch up because they are market economies just since 1989/1990. Before that most of the countries were communistic. The fifth conference was in Kiev in 2003, where the ministers again discussed among other things the candidate countries.

In this thesis the differences in environmental disruption between Eastern and Western Europe will be investigated. Next to the environmental disruptions, also the differences in economic growth between those countries of Eastern and Western Europe will be analysed. The purpose of this thesis is to find out what the environmental differences are between the different countries. The environmental actions of the governments and regulations made by them will also be looked at.

To find the differences in environmental disruption, regressions will be made. The regressions will be made for the countries independently, so the individual differences can be evaluated. The two parts of

3_{Fiedler, J. and Janiak, P. (2003), “Environmental financing in Central and Eastern Europe”, The regional}

(5)

Europe will also be compared. The environmental disruption will be measured with the use of energy data, energy intensity data and with data on emissions of carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxides, and with data on generation of municipal waste. With the help of these data not only environmental disruptions will be investigated, there will also be an attempt to find a relationship between the environmental disruption and the economic growth of a country, a so-called Environmental Kuznets Curve.

The countries that will be used for the analysis are Germany, France, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom for Western Europe, and the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Latvia for Eastern Europe. The countries for Western Europe are chosen because these are the three largest countries and The Netherlands gets special interest from the writer. Hungary and Poland are the largest countries of Eastern Europe. The Czech Republic gets the interest because now it is on its own, separated from Slovakia. Latvia gets the interest because although it is a small country, it is performing well considering economic growth.

With this thesis the differences in environmental disruption between the Eastern and Western European countries will be investigated. The hypothesis states that the environmental disruption per capita will be larger in Eastern Europe, because in Western Europe cleaner and environment friendlier production methods are used and GDP per capita is higher than in Eastern Europe.

This thesis contains seven sections. The next section describes the selected countries. The specific elements of the different countries will be discussed and the main differences between the countries will be examined. Furthermore the development of the incomes in the different countries will be discussed. The third section will be about the European Union in relation with the environment. The fourth section surveys the literature about the Environmental Kuznets Curve. This curve describes the relationship between income growth and environmental disruption.

(6)

II. The countries

The countries that will be described here are the four Western and four Eastern European countries used in this study. The Western European countries are Germany, France, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The countries for Western Europe are the three largest countries (Germany, France, UK) and a small country that gets the interest of the writer (The Netherlands). The Eastern European countries are the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Latvia. The countries of Eastern Europe are the two largest countries of that part of Europe (Poland, Hungary), a country that has recently divided itself from another country (Czech Republic) and a small country that experienced large growth in the last couple of years (Latvia). All of the countries that are selected, are part of the European Union. The four Eastern European countries have all recently joint the European Union.

Each country will be described individually. Some general knowledge on each country will be discussed. There will be something on the agriculture, nature, mining, energy and industry of the specific country, and some information on regulations that exist in a country and what actions the government takes to protect the environment will be given.

Western Europe France4

France is a republic in Western Europe. Agriculture was the most important economic sector in France until the Second World War (WOII). After WOII the industrial revolution started. During the war France suffered only minimal damages and because of that and the Marshal aid, they were able to have enormous industrial growth. Another fact that helped the growth along was the integration of the Western European countries, the good cooperation of the government with the labour unions and businesses. Because of all this France had enormous growth until the eighties. Then there was a period of less growth, but at the end of the eighties the economy began to grow again, because of declining oil prices among other things. From 1990 until 2000 France was the fastest growing economy of the world.

France has the largest agricultural sector in Europe, despite of the fact that it declined drastically during the last decades. During these last decades the coalmines produced less, mostly because of increased use of nuclear energy sources. Also the production of iron decreased largely during this same period. Before France was one of the most important producers of iron. Other important mine products are aluminium ore, potassium salt, rock salt and bauxite. Next to this France also has some less important raw materials available, like zinc ore, lead ore and uranium ore. Furthermore, France

(7)

has stocks of mineral oil and natural gas. The stocks of natural gas are depleting fast and no new gas bubble has been found yet.

From the eighties on the production of electricity increased enormously in France. Because of small stocks of oil and coals, France is dependent on other countries to provide these raw materials. France is developing its nuclear energy resources because they want to be able to provide themselves with enough energy. They are now one of the head runners concerning nuclear energy production and technology. The chemical industry is mainly driven by hydroelectric stations, which deliver cheap energy. This sector is the largest industrial sector of France together with the automobile industry. The chemical industry of France takes in the fourth position in the world, considering the production. Considering the environment, France has to deal with a large diversity of environmental issues, mainly because the country is one of the largest in Europe. Because France is one of the head runners in nuclear energy production, they have low emissions of greenhouse gasses. The Kyoto protocol states for France that they have to stabilise their greenhouse gas emissions in the period 2008-2012 on the level of 1990. Because of the importance of nuclear energy France managed to stabilise its emissions during the period 1990-2003. Furthermore, their emissions of acidifying gasses decreased in the period 1990-2003, with almost 30%5_{. With respect to the consumption of energy France performed less well.} They increased their consumption in the period between 1990-2000 with about 1,6% a year. On the other hand with the generation of renewable electricity France performs quite good. They have large areas of forest and therefore have a high potential for wind energy, geothermal energy and hydro energy. They also generate energy with the incineration of waste. France has a higher level of incineration then the rest of Europe and with the generation of waste per capita they are on the level of the EU-15 average.

Germany6

Germany is located in the middle of Europe and is a federal republic. After the WOII Germany developed itself quickly into one of the most influential industrial countries of the world. Germany has one of the highest Gross Domestic Products (GDP) per capita levels in the world. On October 3 of 1990 East and West Germany were reunited. In the second half of the ’90, after East and West reunited, there was a stagnation of economic growth in Germany. In the last couple of decades the share of GDP of the agricultural sector declined dramatically, while the service industry went up five times. Although the share of agriculture in GDP declined, it serves three quarters of the needs for agricultural products in Germany. Almost one third of Germany is covered with forests. These forests

5_{Source: European Environment Agency, Copenhagen (2005), “The European environment – State and outlook}

2005”, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg.

(8)

are not only for wood production, but also for recreational purposes and environmental protection. Nowadays it is obligated to plant new trees, when old ones are cut.

Germany has only little or no raw materials. They do have stocks of pit coal, brown coal and salt, which are very expensive to extract, and they have only little iron ore, natural gas and mineral oil. It turned out that with the extraction and use of brown coal as a fuel a lot of toxics are released, which cause a lot of environmental problems. The need for energy is provided for with the use of mineral oil, natural gas, pit coal and nuclear energy. The use of nuclear energy still expands even though there are a lot of safety problems and political resistance. Coals and brown coal are the most important energy sources of electricity in Germany. But more than half of the energy has to be imported from abroad, like oil.

In West Germany the largest industry is the car industry. Germany is the third largest producer of cars in the world. In East Germany there is a lot of heavy industry. Here a lot of brown coal and iron ore is processed. Also with respect to the production of chemicals Germany is the third largest producer in the world.

Considering the environment Germany shows better progress than a large part of Europe. They perform well by decreasing the emissions of greenhouse gasses per capita. With the generation of municipal waste and with respect to eco-efficiency they score relatively high. From 1990 onwards the emissions of greenhouse gasses have decreased with almost 19%7_{. They managed to decrease the} emissions with the help of improvements in eco-efficiency, with a change in the types of fuels they used, with the substitution of old technologies with new technologies and of course with new policies and taxes that were implemented. Germany has been able to decrease the amount of emissions of acidifying gasses with a little over two thirds. Because Germany is a large country and because it is highly industrialised the consumption of energy is high. To see the energy efficiency of the country it is better to look at energy intensity. There have been measures taken to reduce the amount of energy consumed per unit of production, which have worked great until the last couple of years, when the consumption has not decreased any further. Renewable energy sources get more and more attention nowadays and Germany has increased their amount of renewable energy to 3% in 20028_{. During the} period 1992-2002 the production of renewable electricity doubled and because of a new act that has been installed wind and biomass plants have been set up. Because Germany is a large country they produce a lot of waste, but due to recycling and avoidance the amounts of waste have been stable over the last couple of years.

(9)

The Netherlands9

The Netherlands is a small country in the Western part of Europe. It is a Kingdom by heritage. The Netherlands has a free market economy, but the government is able to guide the economy with the help of rules and regulations. After the Second World War the Netherlands have changed a lot. This happened due to a strong growth of the population and a loss of colonies. The Netherlands developed itself after the war quickly from an agricultural country to an industrial country. The Netherlands is very internationally organised. They try to keep their economy stable with the help of the famous polder model. Due to this and the strong development The Netherlands went through, they are now one of the top fifteen largest economies in the world. The Netherlands has large stocks of natural gas. These provide large benefits among other things because of exports.

The Netherlands is one of the largest exporters of agricultural products. More than sixty percent of the land is used for agricultural production. The production is increased quite a bit in the last decades. Due to intensifications much more can be produced with less land. There is also an intensified bio- and cattle industry, which threatens the environment with a residue of dung. Because the environment is an important issue these days agriculturists try to produce more durable, like biological protection of their lands instead of poisonous protection methods. They also do research for crops that are less vulnerable to diseases. The Netherlands only has eight percent of their land covered with forests. There is however a tendency towards planting new forests, but the stock of trees is threatened by environmental pollution, especially by acid rain.

After the war the economy developed fast, also because a lot of the country needed to be rebuild. At the end of the nineteenth century The Netherlands became an industrial country. When they began to cooperate more with the other European countries, first in the form of the EEC and later the EU, the industry grew even more, mainly because of the increasing export and the gas that was found. Since the sixties there is also in The Netherlands more attention for the environment. They have to deal with problems like environmental pollution, the damage of the ozone layer and the depletion of natural resources.

The Netherlands possess resources like sand, gravel, lime stone and clay and have raw materials like salt, natural gas, mineral oil and pit coal. Until the Second World War they were dependent on their own energy resources, like pit coal and wind. After the war a lot of mineral oil was imported, until gas was found, even enough to export. Still the imports of oil stayed larger than the exports of gas, which made an energy saving operation necessary. This led to a cheaper and more environment friendlier energy production. The Netherlands is therefore one of the more advanced countries on solar and wind energy.

(10)

Considering the environment, the regulations of the EU have helped The Netherlands to decrease their emissions of greenhouse gasses, but even with this they are likely not to make the target set for greenhouse gas emissions in The Netherlands. They are highly populated which brings about higher emissions per square kilometre. The emissions of carbon dioxide have increased a lot, but the emissions of greenhouse gasses that do not consist carbon dioxide have decreased a lot. Due to the Kyoto agreement there are tradable emission certificates, which The Netherlands use to purchase reductions. The economy of The Netherlands is very energy intensive, which means that their intensity levels are higher than the EU average. They do save energy, at about 1% a year10_{. The target for} renewable electricity they are likely to meet, unlike the target for renewable energy. Considering the amounts of waste nowadays they have made good progress since 2000. In the period 1990-2002 however the amount of waste collected from the households increased with more than 40%.

United Kingdom11

The United Kingdom is a group of islands in the Western part of Europe. Because of the industrial revolution the United Kingdom became the largest economy in the world. But after the nineteen hundreds there came a lot of competition from other countries like the United States. After the First World War the United Kingdom lost its first position. It appeared that a lot of industries were old. It was not until the eighties that the economy began to grow more strongly again. After the Second World War a lot of industries and mines were nationalised, which created new growth. But with Margaret Thatcher a lot of businesses were privatised again, which made the growth decline again. At the beginning of the seventies there was an oil crisis, which had serious consequences like high inflation and high unemployment. The eighties were quite successful again with high growth, but at the end of the nineties growth became less again. In 1998 the United Kingdom only had the fifth position of the world’s largest economies. But the United Kingdom stayed a very important country with a very important capital. The government does realise that when they want to continue to play an important role in the world their economy needs to modernise.

For seventy percent the agriculture of the United Kingdom is self-sufficient. After the Second World War the agricultural lands have declined but the production stayed the same because of intensifications. In the period 1995-1999 the production of biological agriculture went up 720 percent. Biological agriculture is more environmental friendly.

The United Kingdom has three main natural resources: pit coal, mineral oil and natural gas. Most of the electric power plants use pit coals for their production. They closed down a lot of little profitable mines and therefore the production of pit coals decreased. The mineral oil is very important for the

(11)

United Kingdom. This resource allows them to be self sufficient in their energy production. Other raw materials the United Kingdom possesses are iron ore, sand, limestone, salt, slate and china clay. Although the United Kingdom does not have the first position in the world economies anymore, they are still an important economic country. The chemical industry even is the third largest of Europe. And they are the leading county with respect to biotechnology and then mostly chemical, agricultural and environmental technical businesses.

Considering the environment the UK is making good progress. They have decreased their emissions of greenhouse gasses during the period 1990-2003 with almost 14 percent12_{. The generation of renewable} electricity is progressing in the UK. In the period 1990-2004 the generation of electricity from wind has more than doubled. A disturbing point is that the waste generated by households increased quite a lot in the period 1996-2003.

Eastern Europe

From the second half of the 1990s on, the Eastern European countries transitioned from an economy controlled by the government towards a market economy. This transition was mainly stimulated because there was the prospect of joining the European Union. In 1993 the first negotiations of candidacy were brought up at the Copenhagen European Council. At the Luxembourg European Council in 1998 the negotiations with the Eastern European countries started about accession of the European Union. Ten countries were selected for accession, namely the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia. These countries had to develop stable institutions that were based on democratic grounds. They had to implement rules that guarantee of the rule of law. They had to implement respect for human rights and they had to protect the minorities. At this moment every country is at a different stage of the development towards a fully functioning market economy. A lot of the Eastern European countries have experienced growth over the last couple of years, but still they are not on the same average level of GDP per capita as the countries of Western Europe. On the first of May 2004, eight of the ten countries were given membership of the European Union. Among these eight countries are the four countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia and Poland) that will be investigated in this thesis.

Czech Republic13

The Czech Republic is a republic in Eastern Europe. Till 1991 the Czech economy was a socialistic one, after 1991 it became privatised to build to a free market economy. They also released the prices,

12_{Source: European Environment Agency, Copenhagen (2005), “The European environment – State and}

outlook 2005”, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg.

(12)

which caused high inflation rates. These rates declined again to about ten percent. Until now the Czech economy is still growing, even though in the rest of the world there was little or no growth. The Czech Republic was able to convert to the Western European structure very fast, mainly because of the cooperation that exists between the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland.

The agricultural sector in the Czech Republic was good for about five percent of GDP in the year 2001. Most of the products are for domestic use, therefore the Czech Republic has little to export and must import a lot of other goods. Nowadays the Czech farmers are more and more concerned with the environment, in 2001 the biological farming production expanded until 5,3 percent. The wood industry is a very important income provider for the Czech economy, but the forests have a lot to suffer. They have a lot to fear from acid rain. This acid rain is mainly produced by the industry and electricity stations in the Czech Republic, which still use brown and pit coals as a fuel. At this moment a quarter of the forests are already damaged or have died because of environmental pollution.

After 1989 the Czech government restructured the energy sector, because it damaged the environment enormously. The energy use was high and inefficient, this was mainly because of the heavy industry. Nowadays the heavy industry is shrinking and the service sector is growing, which brings about a smaller energy consumption. The production of electric energy is generated with thermal, nuclear and hydroelectric power stations. The most important energy sources are brown and pit coals, but the people are switching more and more to gas these days, which is better for the environment. Also nuclear energy is getting more important and became the second most important energy source. The Czech Republic has stocks of uranium, but the extraction of the uranium is very expansive and toxic to the environment. The extraction is decreasing because of that. They wanted to close down the uranium mine in 2004. There are also doubts if the nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic are consistent with the regulation of the European Union.

The Czech Republic is not a mine country, except for brown and pit coal. They also do not have a lot of mineral oil. Like Germany and France the Czech Republic also has a large automobile industry and is able to become one of the largest automobile producers of Europe.

Considering the environment the Czech Republic is making good progress. In the period 1990-2003 they have reduced their greenhouse gas emissions with about 25 percent14_{. This means that the target} the Czechs had to complete for the Kyoto protocol have been fulfilled. The energy consumption has decreased quite a lot lately in the Czech Republic This is mainly because of changing industries and the implementation of new more efficient technologies. The energy intensity level of the economy is high, a lot higher than the average of the EU-25. To decrease these intensity levels the government have implemented two new programmes. Kyoto also set a target of the percentage of renewable electricity generation. The Czech Republic has increased their amount of renewable electricity, but it is still too low to meet the target. The fact that electricity from renewable sources has until now been

(13)

so small is mainly because there is little financial security for investors. The generation of municipal waste has increased since 1995, but since 2002 the amounts are decreasing again.

Hungary15

Hungary is a republic in the Eastern part of Europe. The restructuring process for a free market economy was picked up again after 1989. Although the economy is not yet blooming, the restructuring process is completed. That the economy is not yet blooming is because of the low domestic demand for products, low growth of exports, large government dept and high inflation.

Because of the fertile land and the good climate in Hungary the agricultural sector is the most important sector of the economy. They are able to be self-sufficient. Hungary has only little or no natural resources. They do have pit coal and brown coal stocks, but these are declining. The pit coal lies very deep under ground, which makes it expensive to extract. Next to these resources, Hungary has some mineral oil and bauxite.

The brown coals are used for the production of electricity. They also have nuclear power plants to produce energy. But a large issue still is the waste that comes with it and how that should be treated. Because of the lack of natural resources Hungary has to import a lot of energy resources. To be less dependent on other countries for energy, they have rebuild the electricity stations that worked with oil to energy stations that work with coals.

The industry in Hungary is growing at a rate of about ten percent a year. This is in part because of the modernisation of the economy. The domestic demand for products is also growing fast. The industry is producing much more for export nowadays. The industrial sector is the fastest growing sector of the Hungarian economy and is the engine behind the growth of the country’s economy.

Considering the environment Hungary decreased their emissions of greenhouse gasses and carbon dioxide. They also managed to decrease the amount of energy use, but their consumption and intensity levels of energy are still a lot higher than the average of the European Union. Nowadays Hungary makes more use of gas and less use of coal. The use of renewables in electricity is progressing. They use water, biomass, wind and solar energy to generate electricity. The EU set a target for renewables in electricity, which Hungary is not going to make if it does not make more drastic changes. During the period 1992-2002 the amount of municipal waste generated increased in Hungary.

Latvia16

Latvia is a Baltic republic in the Eastern part of Europe. The economy of Latvia has changed quite a bit in the last years. It changed from a communistic economy, which was lead by Moscow, into a free

(14)

market economy with free and independent businesses. In the beginning this had a fast rising inflation rate as a consequence, but nowadays this is under control.

Latvia has 2,5 million hectare of agricultural grounds. This is mainly used for agriculture, but also as pastures. Another important economic feature are the forests. Almost half of the country is covered with forests, which provide them with a lot of wood. After the Second World War the agricultural sector of the economy was the most important sector. Since then the industrial sector grew and the agricultural sector declined. For example all of the electric diesel trains for the Soviet Union were made in Latvia. Now Latvia is the most industrialised of the Baltic States.

Latvia has almost no natural resources. Therefore it is very dependent on foreign countries to provide fuels, electricity and resources for the domestic industry. The small resources Latvia has are peat, limestone, sand, loam, plaster, gravel, wood and amber.

Almost half of the energy has to be imported into Latvia. They have three hydroelectric power plants and two heat electric power plants, which together produce the other half of the necessary energy. Because of the large imports of energy needs and mineral fuels Latvia has a negative trade balance sheet. They do export products, like wood and wood products, textile, agricultural products and electronics.

Considering the environment Latvia made the largest progress in decreasing the emissions of gasses into the air. They have managed to decrease their emissions of greenhouse gasses since 1990 drastically, but this was mainly because of a decline in the economy and of the restructuring of the industries. Latvia also decreased their energy intensity levels and increased their energy efficiency. The decline in energy intensity is mainly driven by a growing GDP level. Latvia performs good considering renewable electricity. At the end of 2010 they want 49,3% of their electricity generated from renewables17_{. The amounts of municipal waste generated in Latvia are increasing the last couple} of years, but the waste management and the awareness of the public have improved.

Poland18

Poland is a republic that lies in the Eastern part of Europe. After the Second World War Poland adopted the economic model of the Soviet Union. With this model land ownership on a large scale was abolished and all banks and large companies came in the possession of the state. However, even with these reformations the standard of living maintained very low, but Poland changed from an agricultural country to an industrial country. Nowadays there are still companies in the hands of the state, mostly heavy industrial companies. In 1989 the principles of free market were again integrated in the Polish economy. In the nineties a lot of reformations were carried through. Among other things

outlook 2005”, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg.

(15)

prices were released again and heavy taxes were introduced. In the nineties Poland became a free market economy very fast. This gave them a head start with respect to the other countries in the Eastern part of Europe.

Agriculture provides only six percent of GDP of Poland. There is a lot of cattle breeding in Poland, but this sector is not able to grow much due to bad infrastructure. Most of the industry in Poland is in the south of the country. Since 1990 the private sector of the industry grew enormously. The privatisation of the large state companies remains a large problem. Another large problem is the enormous environmental pollution the industry causes. The chemical industry is very important for the Poland economy, but it needs a lot of foreign capital to renovate. The renovation is among other things necessary for environmental protection. The regulations of the European Union are tight and therefore the chemical industry needs extra investments. Poland does have a large stock of raw materials, mostly brown and pit coals. The stocks of pit coals are truly enormous and therefore most of the energy is generated by coals, which have excellent quality. However because of old materials and because the coals need to be extracted from deeper under ground, investments are necessary to make the extraction of coals profitable again.

Most of the Polish electricity comes from pit and brown coal production. The part that brown and pit coal cannot provide comes from hydroelectric stations. Off course the largest problem with the production of energy with the help of brown and pit coal is the environmental pollution, mostly air pollution. Environment friendlier energy is upcoming in Poland, like wind energy, but most of it is imported. For natural gas Poland is largely dependent on Russia, but this is getting less, because of a contract with Denmark and Norway.

Considering the environment Poland is progressing well. They have decreased their emissions of greenhouse gasses since 1990. They have already met some of the targets set by the Kyoto programme concerning some specific gasses. They were able to do so mainly because of the closing and restructuring of industries that were highly polluting and very energy intensive. Poland is on the right track towards to target set by the Kyoto programme. The consumption of energy in Poland also decreased a lot. Because of this they are one of the best performing countries in Europe when it concerns the consumption of energy per capita. The amount of renewables in the generation of electricity is increasing. The renewable energy sources that are being used are biomass, water and wind. Poland only produces little amounts of municipal waste per capita and these numbers are still decreasing nowadays.

Brief summary

(16)

(17)

III. The European Union and environmental pollution

In this section there will be information on the environmental stages the countries of Eastern and Western Europe are in. There will be information on energy consumption, on environmental goals, problems and possible solutions. There will also be information on obstructions the countries will have to overcome to improve the state of the environment. There are three sections in this paragraph. The first gives information on the problems of the countries of Eastern Europe. The second section discusses the environmental state the Western European countries are in. The last section discusses the EU-25. These are all the countries of the European Union since the first of May 2004.

Eastern Europe

Many of the Eastern European countries have very high, if not the highest, energy intensities in the world, see figure 1. Centrally planned economies have economies that produce the most energy waste in history. But due to the change to market economies the Eastern European countries are able to decrease their energy use. This is possible due to the reduced dominance of heavy industry in these countries and because of the reduced economic growth. The transition to a market economy is not enough to make the energy market efficient and sustainable, there also has to be significant policy interference. These policy interventions are necessary to prove the EU energy forecasts, which predict that the higher energy intensity levels of Eastern Europe will be maintained well into the future, wrong. That the Eastern European countries are this inefficient when it concerns energy use, is because most of the time energy efficiency measures are not given the priority they need. This leads to inadequate funding, lack of staffing and failure to implement national and EU regulations19_{, which} results in slow development in this important area. Also when the ten new members of the European Union (Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia) were preparing for accession, the main focus was on the liberalisation of the market and not on the environment and the reformations that were necessary for the energy market.

19_{Source: Froggatt, A. and Canzi, G. (2004), “Ending wasteful energy use in Central and Eastern Europe”,}

(18)

Energy intensity of the economy in kg of oil equivalent per 1000 euro

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 Year E ne rg y in te ns ity le ve ls cz Czech Republic lv Latvia hu Hungary pl Poland

Figure 1 Energy intensities of economies in Eastern Europe during the period 1991-200320

When looking at energy use per capita, this is lower in most of the Eastern European countries than in the Western European countries. In Eastern Europe the energy use is inefficient in contrast with the economic output, but due to the fact that the transport sector has a lower consumption of energy, they have smaller houses and more persons per house, and because of the unavailability of all the energy consuming luxury goods the Western European countries have, they have a lower energy use per capita than most of the countries in Western Europe. But when these countries joined the European Union they get access to the luxury goods, which will consume more energy, which will lead to a higher energy use per capita. The growth of the service sector in the Eastern European countries will also increase the energy use per capita. But there will also be the replacement of old appliances with new ones that are more energy efficient, which will lead to a decrease in the levels of energy use per capita.

The Eastern European countries transitioned towards market economies from the late 1990s on. This process happened because these countries had the hope of joining the European Union. Because the Eastern European countries were about to join the European Union they had to work on things like political stability, environmental policies and they had to invest in cleaner and more efficient technologies. All of these changes were good for the environment, but still there was a lot to work on for these countries. They had to make sure they had funds to invest in the environmental goals that were set, by themselves and the EU. The Eastern European countries had to implement the polluter-pays principle. The principle says that the polluters should provide their own resources to “clean” what they polluted. This means that a large part of the environmental funds are used for this “cleaning”. Because of this principle, new environmental policies and more economic stability the environment has improved already.

(19)

The two major issues that contributed to the benefit of the environment in the Eastern European countries are the recession in the early 1990s and the process of accession with the European Union. Because of these two issues the countries implemented new environmental policies and generated resources for investment in more efficient and cleaner technologies. In the last couple of years the energy intensities in the Eastern European countries have declined, but are still much higher then in Western European countries.

Because they joined the EU the new members now have more access to structural funds, but there is almost no indication that there will be priority for energy efficiency. Not only the environment in the EU will benefit from a more efficient energy use, also the economies of the countries and their foreign debts will benefit from it. This will increase household welfare and the competitiveness of the European Union as a whole. But before this can happen aggressive energy conservation and efficiency policies are necessary. A positive point is that in the last 13 years the air pollution and CO2 emissions have decreased a lot in many Central and Eastern European countries21_.

The air quality measured in sulphur oxide emissions in the Eastern European countries has improved since 1991, but especially since 1995 (figure 2). This is mainly because of the accession with the EU. Because of this the countries have increased energy efficiency, they use better fuels now and they invest in better, more efficient and cleaner technologies. Still the emissions per capita are higher in Eastern than in Western Europe. This can get worse because of the transport sector. When economies grow it is often seen that also the amount of cars grows, which means more road traffic. And more traffic means more air pollution.

National sulphur oxide emissions in 1000 tonnes 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 Year E m is si on s of S O x cz Czech Republic lv Latvia hu Hungary pl Poland

Figure 2 National emissions of SOx in 1000 tonnes22_.

WWF European Policy Office, Belgium.

(20)

A large contributor to environmental pollution in the Eastern part of Europe is the reliance of Eastern Europe on coals for energy production. Coals are very toxic for the environment and with the production of energy from these coals there exists a lot of air pollution. Poland relies on coals for the production of more than 60% of its electricity. Another important energy producer is nuclear energy. The nuclear energy sector produces 23% of the energy23_{for all of the Eastern European countries} together. Because of the joining of the EU the coal production has to decrease tremendously and the countries have to rely more on natural gas and renewable energy sources, like Latvia already does. By 2010 the new member countries have to increase their share of electricity from renewable energy to 22%.

Table 1 Total energy consumption by fuel (%) in 200224

Coal and Oil Gas Nuclear Renewables Industrial Imports-exports Total

lignite waste of electricity

Czech Republic 49,9 19,9 18,9 11,1 2,2 0,3 -2,4 100

Hungary 14,1 24,8 42,2 14,0 3,5 0,0 1,4 100

Latvia 2,4 27,2 30,8 0,0 34,8 0,0 4,8 100

Poland 61,7 22,4 11,4 0,0 4,7 0,6 -0,7 100

There is a lot of potential for the Eastern European countries to reduce their energy consumption and production. There already has been a decline in the use of energy, mainly because of a decline in the industrial output and because of the restructuring of the Eastern economies. But there is still a lot of overcapacity in the Eastern European countries. Some countries have re-installed power station that make use of coals and some have even build new energy stations. The overcapacity in the Eastern European countries is 38%, while for the Western European countries this is 26% of total installed capacity. So there is a lot of potential to reduce energy production and the use of coals. The environment will benefit from this enormously, due to less toxic waste, less emissions, less air pollution and less energy use.

During the last ten years the Eastern European countries have improved their environment considerably. They have strengthened their administrative capacities, which helped them to implement environmental laws more effectively. These laws they also have to enforce and monitor. But despite of all the improvements already made, a lot still has to be done.

In many of the Eastern European countries that recently joined the European Union there have been a lot of improvements with respect to investments for the environment. This is mainly because in most of these countries the economy continued to grow which makes it easier for the government to

WWF European Policy Office, Belgium.

(21)

generate resources they can use for investment in the environment. Another important point is political stability. Because of this the interest rates have reduced and also the inflation rates. The government created incentives for efficiency for the industries and the households by decreasing the subsidies they were able to collect for energy, water and other resources. Furthermore trade relationships have helped exporters to give more attention to the environment. There have been new policies implemented and new programmes concerning the environment. The polluter pays principle also has great influence on the generation of funds to pursue environmental goals. Also decentralisation has been a great influence on the awareness of the environmental problems and stimulated the demand for better environmental services at local level25_{. Because of all these new policies and the greater awareness of the} environment most of the countries of Eastern Europe spent larger proportions of their GDP on environmental goals, (table 2). The numbers in purple mean that not all data of all the economic sectors are available. For the extended table with the economic sectors see appendix A.

Table 2 Total environmental protection expenditure (% of GDP)26

Total 2000 2001 2002 2003 cz Czech Republic 0,91 0,85 0,88 lv Latvia 0,37 0,85 1,14 1,01 hu Hungary 2,08 2,26 2,25 pl Poland 1,32 3,01 2,90 2,96 Western Europe

A point of environmental concern in the Western European Union is the increase in the usage of electricity. The consumption of electricity increased because of the increasing amount of electric appliances in each household, because of the increase of the service sector and because of the increase in the use of electricity in the industrial sectors. Electricity is generated from other fuels. This means that for one unit of electricity there are at least two or more units of other fuels needed. When the amount of electricity consumption will continue to increase this will put an enormous strain on the environment. The emissions of carbon dioxide will increase a lot. This increase in emissions can be offset when the appropriate new and more efficient techniques will be applied.

The main goal concerning energy in the EU-15 is the decrease of the energy intensity by one percent a year from 1998 until 2010. Until now the decrease in energy intensity has been very low (see figure 3). This is because of the low priority the energy efficiency policies get, the high stocks of energy the European Union has and the low prices of the fossil fuels. A new technology that can increase the energy efficiency is thermal power. With this technique the warmth that is generated with the transition from energy to electricity can also be used. The EU has set the goal to generate 18% of the

25_{Fiedler, J. and Janiak, P. (2003), “Environmental financing in Central and Eastern Europe”, The regional}

environmental center, Hungary.

(22)

electricity with this technique in 2010. This goal may not appear feasible, because the investment in this technique is obstructed in countries like Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The main fuel for the thermal power plant is natural gas and the prices of natural gas have increased several times in these countries, while the prices of electricity declined and these countries are not sure what will happen with the energy markets when they are fully liberalised.

Energy intensiy of the economy in kg of oil equivalent per 1000 euro

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 Year E ne rg y in te ns ity le ve ls _{de Germany} (including ex-GDR from 1991) fr France nl Netherlands uk United Kingdom

Figure 3 Energy intensity of the economy in Western Europe27

The European Environment Agency expects that after 2010 there will be no further switch from coals to natural gas. They expect that the emissions of carbon dioxide will increase because of the increased production of electricity from fossil fuels, because of a slow growth in the generation of electricity from renewable sources, and because there will be less production of energy from nuclear power plants because these will be shut down. The Agency also expects that the making of the goals concerning renewable energy sources will be a huge challenge for the countries of the European Union. When taking the increase in the consumption of energy in consideration, the switch to renewable energy will have to be more than twice as fast. A lot of factors are in the way of the development of renewable energy sources, things like financial obstructions, fiscal obstructions, administrative obstructions, the low competition power a lot of the renewable energy sources have, the lack of information on renewable energy sources, and the lack of trust from investors. According to the European Environment Agency a lot of the obstructions for the progression of the protection of the environment and durability are created because the problems and the solutions are of complex, intersectoral, interdisciplinary and international nature28_{. These obstructions are met by other}

27_{The data for this figure are collected from Eurostat.}

(23)

obstructions like institutional policies, not honouring agreed upon obligations, and the lack of information on possible solutions.

The largest contributor to the pollution of the air in the European Union is the consumption of energy. This consumption generates 90 percent of the emissions of sulphur dioxide29_{. Figure 4 presents to} emissions of sulphur oxides in the countries of Western Europe. The countries of the EU-15 have implemented several measures which had a huge effect in decreasing the air pollution. They introduced catalysers, they managed to decrease the emissions that came from burning installations, and they introduced new technique that helped decrease the emissions.

National sulphur oxide emissions in 1000 tonnes 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 Year E m is si on s of S O

x de Germany_{(including ex-GDR}

from 1991) fr France nl Netherlands

uk United Kingdom

Figure 4 National emissions of sulphur oxides of Western Europe, given in 1000 tonnes30

Another large improvement in the amount of emissions is the switch from pit coals and oil to natural gas. Brown and pit coals lost about one third of their market to natural gas. Furthermore the increase in the usage of nuclear and renewable energy sources helped decrease the emissions. But nuclear energy sources have a downside to them. They produce nuclear waste, which is building up in Europe and there is not yet an accepted technique to dispose the waste. The way the energy consumption is spread over the different fuels is given in table 3.

(24)

Table 3 Energy consumption ratios (%) of the different resources in 200231

Coal and Oil Gas Nuclear Renewables Industrial Imports-exports Total

lignite waste of electricity

France 5,2 34,7 14,1 42,4 6,1 0,0 -2,5 100

Germany 24,9 37,1 22,0 12,4 3,1 0,4 0,3 100

Netherlands 10,7 37,9 45,8 1,3 2,2 0,3 1,8 100

United Kingdom 15,8 34,7 37,9 10,0 1,2 0,0 0,3 100

Emissions of gasses into the air result in temperature rises. Therefore, the EU has formulated a long-term environmental goal, which states that the international temperature target may not be more than 2°C above the pre-industrial levels. Some of the members of the EU have already begun to implement this long-term goal. The UK for example has defined a long term emission reduction of 60%, and Germany wants to reduce emissions with 40%, while the Netherlands have made the suggestion that Western Europe has to reduce their emissions with 40-60% as an indicative target. In 2005 there were climate change negotiations that will have to be implemented from 2012 onwards, for which these targets are already a good basis.

In the period from 1990 until 2000 the EU-15 have decreased their emissions of greenhouse gasses (see figure 5), but the emissions of greenhouse gasses from energy decreased less. In 2000 the EU managed to stabilise the emissions on the level of 1990. Even though this looks like they are heading in the right direction, they have to decrease the emissions of greenhouse gasses even further. In the Kyoto protocol the countries of the Western European Union agreed to decrease the emissions of greenhouse gasses in 2010 by eight percent compared to the level in 1990. When the countries do not take extra action to decrease the emissions of greenhouse gasses the level in 2010 will be the same as the level in 199032_{, which means that it will not improve from now on. The European Environmental} Agency predicts that the decreases in emissions of greenhouse gasses will be offset by increasing energy related emissions. According to the Agency the countries of the EU-15 do not have generated enough progression to make the goals, which are stated in the Kyoto protocol for 2010.

31_{The data for this table are collected from Eurostat.}

(25)

Emissions of greenhouse gasses (in 1000 tonnes) 0 200000 400000 600000 800000 1000000 1200000 1400000 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 year em is si on s of g re en ho us e ga ss es de Germany (including ex-GDR from 1991) fr France nl Netherlands uk United Kingdom

Figure 5 Total emissions of greenhouse gasses in four Western European countries33

All economic sectors become more aware of the necessity to decrease the pollution and protect the environment. Therefore the governments have implemented new policies to protect the environment and to ensure a sustainable development. Governments can implement regulatory measures and taxes that stand in direct relation with the polluter. These measures will encourage the people to decrease their pollution and think more about the environment. The ‘polluter pays principle’ is a measure that helps a lot in decreasing the pollution. To see what the response is of the people to reduce the pollution table 4 presents data on environmental protection expenditure.

Table 4 Environmental protection expenditure (% of GDP)34

Total 2000 2001 2002 2003

de Germany 1,26 1,23 1,27

fr France 0,65 1,50 1,16

nl Netherlands 1,70 2,30 0,86

uk United Kingdom 1,37 1,19 0,95

The data in purple mean that not all the data on all the economic sectors are available. See appendix B for the extended table on environmental protection expenditure.

These measures to protect the environment cost the people a lot of money but they also generate a lot of returns. Therefore a lot of people take precautionary measures voluntarily. These measures are taken because consumers or stakeholders find this very important, or the market asks for it, the company wants to increase its market share, or the company wants to improve the image it has. The environment and its protection also creates new markets, markets for environmental goods and services35_{. The expenditures on the protection of the environment arise in all economic sectors.}

33_{The data for this figure is collected from Eurostat.} 34_{The data for this table is collected from Eurostat.}

(26)

The EU-25

The most important issue in the European Union is the energy consumption. The energy consumption contributes for a large part to the changes of the climate. The demand for electricity in Europe increases due to increasing wealth and due to increasing small households. The European Union wants to lower the demand for polluting energy. They want to internalise all the external costs of energy consumption in the prices. Most of the times the prices for energy are too low, because not all the external effects energy consumption has are in the prices. The monetary value of the pollution it generates is not accounted into the price of the energy. The European Union also wants to stimulate the usage of renewable energy sources and the development of other alternative and more energy efficient technologies. The share of renewable energy in total energy consumption in the period between 1990 and 2002 is presented in table 5.

Table 5 Share of renewable energy in total energy consumption (%) 1990-200236

1990 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Czech Republic 0,3 1,5 1,4 1,6 1,6 2,0 1,6 1,8 2,2 France 7,0 7,6 7,2 6,9 6,8 7,0 6,8 6,8 6,1 Germany 1,6 1,9 1,9 2,2 2,4 2,6 2,9 2,8 3,1 Hungary 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 0,1 1,5 1,7 1,6 3,5 Latvia 9,4 6,8 4,5 7,6 11,4 30,1 28,8 35,0 34,8 Netherlands 1,1 1,2 1,6 1,8 1,9 2,1 2,1 2,1 2,2 Poland 1,6 4,0 3,6 3,7 4,0 4,0 4,2 4,5 4,7 United Kingdom 0,5 0,9 0,8 0,9 1,0 1,1 1,1 1,1 1,2

Since 1990 the consumption of energy increased in the European Union and the European Environmental Agency expects this trend to continue. They predict that the burning of fossil fuels for energy will continue for the next 30 years or so. This burning of fossil fuels is the major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. The Agency predicts that the growth of renewable energy will not be significant and that there will be less energy generated from nuclear energy sources, because nuclear power plants will be shut down. Another prediction the Agency makes is that the EU-15, the fifteen old members, is able to increase their energy efficiency with a least 20 percent and the EU-10, the ten new members, with even more.

Another important issue in the European Union is the production of waste. There are decreasing possibilities for the disposal of the waste, while the amount of waste increases. There are a lot of problems with the decisions of where a waste disposal will be located and where the burning of the waste should take place. A lot of countries do not have the space to stock the waste and there are a lot

(27)

of concerns with the pollution of the ground, the air and the water. Waste has an enormous impact on the environment of a country. Some of these impacts are37_:

× Waste pollutes the ground of a country and it pollutes the surface water. This happens because

the waste leaks into the ground and the water, and because there is too much.

× Waste infects the soil and it brings harm to the nature of a country. × The storage places for the waste emit methane, which is a greenhouse gas. × The waste emits dust, smells and gasses that are risky to the health of people. × The piles of waste sometimes generate fires that cannot be regulated.

Figure 6 shows the amounts of waste generated in the different countries of the European Union in 2003 in kg per capita.

Figure 6 Municipal waste generated in 2003 in kg per person per year38

Another huge issue in the European Union is the problem with the depletion of the ozone layer. This depletion generates a lot of health problems. The largest problems with the ozone appear in the Middle, South and East of Europe. Here the ozone is depleted the most. Most of the problems appear during the months of the summer. When it is hot, high concentrations of health damaging dust are released. The ozone is damaged because of gasses that are released into the air by industrial processes, burning of fuels and other activities. These gasses are bad for the environment, but also for human

37_{Source: Eurostat (2003), “A selection of environmental pressure indicators for the EU and acceding}

countries”, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg.

(28)

health. The Kyoto protocol that was signed in 1997 gives every country a target for reducing these gasses. The target for 2008/2012 for greenhouse gasses is a level of eight percent below the level of emissions in 1990. Each country has its own target. The emissions of greenhouse gasses and the targets of each country in the European Union are presented in figure 7.

Figure 7 Total greenhouse gas emissions in 2002

The numbers on the x-axis are the changes in percentages since the base year (=100), the red lines are the targets set by Kyoto and the EU39_.

To tackle all of the environmental problems in the different countries and to raise revenue, which can be used for cleaning the environment the governments of the different countries charge taxes. These taxes are different in each country. The European Environment agency gives an overview of the different taxes in each country. For Western Europe they present the tax bases of each country since 1996 and their development. For Eastern Europe they present the tax bases that are there in 2004. Figure 8 presents these different tax bases40_.

39_{Source: Eurostat (2005), “Europe in figures – Eurostat yearbook 2005”, European Commission.} 40_{Source: European Environment Agency, Copenhagen (2005), “The European environment – State and}

(29)

France Ger- Nether- United Czech Hungary Latvia Poland

many lands Kingdom Republic

Air/energy

CO2 X x x

SO2 x x x x x

NOx x x x x x

Other air pollutants x x x x

Fuels x X x x x x x x

S in fuels X x x

Transport

Car sales and use x X x x x x x

Diff. annual car tax X x

Ann. circuation tax x x x x

Water Water effluents x X x x x x x Waste Waste taxes x x x Waste-end x x x Dangerous waste X Noise Aviation noise X x x Products Tyres x x x Beverage cont. x x Packaging x x x x Bags Pesticides CFCs x x x Batteries x x Light bulbs x PVC/phtalates Lubrication oil x x Fertilisers x Paper, board x x Solvents Resources Raw materials x x x x in 1996 x new after 1996 x new after 2000

(30)

Brief summary

The economies of the Eastern European countries are highly energy intensive. The energy intensity levels of their economies are much higher than those of the Western European countries. All of the countries have decreased their energy intensity levels, but the countries of Eastern Europe had a large decrease, while the Western European countries had only a small decrease. In Eastern Europe there is a lot of efficiency to gain considering energy. In Western Europe energy goals have not received that much attention the last few years. This is why the decreases there are a lot smaller than in the East. To increase the efficiency in the energy sector and to decrease the emissions from the energy sector the countries have to switch more and more to renewable energy sources. The percentages of renewable energy in total energy consumption are still too small in most countries. Latvia is the only country that makes use of a high share of renewables in the energy sector (table 5).

The countries of Western Europe have slightly higher emissions of sulphur oxides than the countries of Eastern Europe. Some of the countries have only low emissions of sulphur oxides, like Latvia and the Netherlands. Others have high emissions, like Poland and the United Kingdom. All of the countries decreased their emissions of sulphur oxides. Germany, Latvia and the Czech Republic made the largest decreases. When it concerns the emissions of greenhouse gasses in total, the countries of Eastern Europe have performed better than the countries of Western Europe. All of them have already made their targets set by Kyoto. The Netherlands and Germany have not yet met their targets and France balances on the line.

The type of fuel the energy comes from in each country is very different. The Eastern European countries rely more on coals, gas and renewables while the countries of Western Europe rely more on gas, oil and nuclear energy. Especially the burning of coals brings about high emissions of pollutive gasses. Nuclear energy sources on the other hand bring about low emissions of gasses, but generate nuclear waste which is very toxic.

The figures on spending on environmental protection are not very accurate. A lot of data on this subject is unavailable and missing. Therefore the tables 2 and 4 only give an indication. All of the countries spent different amounts on the protection of the environment.

Environmental disruption in Europe