Definition: Investment in equipment and plant for pollution co...

Category: Structural business statistics

Investment expenditure resulting from actions and activities which have as their prime objective the prevention, reduction and elimination of pollution and any other degradation of the environment.

Actions and activities which have a favourable impact on the environment but which do not come under environmental protection are excluded. Hence, excluded from this field are activities which, while beneficial to the environment, primarily satisfy technical needs or the internal requirements for health and safety of the enterprise. This restriction applies in most cases to recycling activities classified under NACE 37.00 (recycling). Data collected for this industry should not be added to other NACE headings (see classification of environmental protection activities UNECE/Eurostat DOC/CES/822).

End-of-pipe equipment concerns additional technical installations for use in the context of environmental control. These installations operate independently of or are identifiable parts added to the production facilities, treat pollution that has been generated, prevent the emissions or spread of the pollutants or measure the level of pollution (monitoring). The investment is calculated by the purchase price or construction cost of the installation, including design and installation costs. The purchase of land necessary for the installation is also included. Expenditure made principally for the purpose of health and safety inside the workplace should be excluded.

These investments occur in activities such as the reduction, prevention or treatment of waste and waste water, the prevention and elimination or reduction of air emissions, the treatment and disposal of contaminated soil and ground water the prevention or reduction of noise and vibration levels, the preservation of ecological entities and landscapes as well as the monitoring of the quality of the environmental media and waste. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:1998:344:0049:0080:EN:PDF