When comparing the calculated annual costs of achieving those emissions reductions with the estimated health benefits, it was found that the latter are at least three times higher. Such cuts in SO2 and NOx emission would in addition bring many other benefits that have not been quantified in monetary terms, including less damage to ecosystems and biodiversity through acidification, eutrophication and ground level ozone, and reduced rates of corrosion and weathering of buildings, materials and cultural monuments.
"Clearly the costs of cutting emissions from large combustion plants are significantly less than the economic benefits of improved health", says Christer Ågren, director of the Swedish NGO Secretariat on Acid Rain. "Setting strict mandatory emission limit values for existing large combustion plants would help ensure that the oldest, least efficient, and dirtiest coal-fired plants would be shut down – a win-win solution that will cut emissions of both traditional air pollutants and greenhouse gases."
Emissions from large industrial point sources are currently regulated by the EU directives on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) and Large Combustion Plants (LCP). In December 2007 the European Commission presented proposed draft legislation to revise these directives.
"The findings of this study are important for current debates in the European Parliament on regulating industrial emissions", says Dragomira Raeva, Air Pollution Officer at the European Environmental Bureau. "We think these are solid reasons for the European Parliament to strengthen emission limits in the IPPC directive".
The study also shows that there is significant variation in the application of emission control technologies between different plants and different countries. Improved application of Best Available Techniques (BAT) for reducing air pollutant emissions from large industrial point sources could contribute significantly to better air quality in Europe.
