External costs of industrial air pollution in the European Union 2012-2021, by sector
The annual cost of air pollution from the largest industrial plants in the European Union (EU-27) averaged roughly 268 billion euros per year from 2012 to 2021, based on the VOLY method. Although the energy sector has consistently represented roughly 50 percent of these costs per year, economic damages linked to energy production have fallen by 46 percent since 2012. This is due to energy sector emissions decreasing at a faster rate when compared to other sectors during this period. These reductions account for roughly 80 percent of the decrease of total external costs since 2012.