Emissions from energy-intensive industries in Europe have fallen sharply over the past two decades, but progress has stalled and the health-related costs of pollution remain high, according to a new European Environment Agency (EEA) briefing. Further reductions will require deeper industrial transformation, alongside full implementation of existing EU environmental legislation.
The briefing, Zero pollution, decarbonisation and circular economy in energy-intensive industries, analyses long-term trends in greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions, projected air pollutant emission reductions and outlines pathways that could support further progress. Energy-intensive industries account for around 27% of EU industrial greenhouse gas emissions and a large share of key air pollutants, including sulphur oxides (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx).
Despite progress, the external costs of pollution from energy-intensive industries remain high, at around €73 billion per year. Supporting transformation in these sectors towards decarbonisation, pollution prevention and circularity would offer multiple benefits for the climate, environment and public health, strengthening the EU’s overall competitiveness by reducing societal costs.
Over the past two decades, greenhouse gas emissions from these industries fell by around 42%, alongside substantial reductions in air pollutants – notably dioxins (63%), nickel (64%) and NOx (55%). While the sectors’ combined gross value added (GVA) remained broadly stable in this period, the briefing also shows that the more pronounced emission reductions observed after 2020 coincide with a decline in GVA, pointing to an increasing role of structural economic shifts alongside technological improvements.
The analysis focuses on key energy-intensive sectors: iron and steel, cement and lime, aluminium, pulp and paper, glass and clay, and chemicals.
These industries are responsible for more than 60% of total energy consumption across all the manufacturing sectors. This has negatively impacted their competitiveness during the EU energy crisis, compounding existing challenges related to weak demand and global overcapacity in sectors such as steel. In the EU, electricity still costs two to four times as much as it does for the EU’s main trading partners.
According to the briefing, achieving further progress will depend on full implementation of existing EU environmental and climate legislation, combined with more fundamental changes in emission-intensive industrial processes. The analysis is set in the context of the EU’s Clean Industrial Deal, which seeks to accelerate industrial transformation while supporting sustainable competitiveness.
The briefing identifies key pathways, such as electrification, alternative feedstock and materials, and use of secondary raw materials that offer co-benefits for pollution prevention and climate mitigation, while also helping to reduce resource use and dependencies. At the same time, the briefing highlights that different industrial transformation pathways may involve trade-offs across environmental policy objectives, uderscoring the need for careful, sector-specific approaches.
Understanding these interactions is essential for guiding investments and policy choices that present opportunities for reducing emissions at the lowest possible cost, ensuring that efforts to cut emissions and pollution also deliver health, competitiveness and resilience benefits. An integrated perspective could be further extended when determining funding criteria for projects, developing new frameworks for issuing permits, or setting sustainability standards and procurement criteria for products such as low-emission steel.
