Accounting for Environmental Damage by Material Production and Use: A Comparison of Seven Western European Countries

Abstract

The environmental damage related to the production and use of materials is one of the main motives behind the wide interest in the transition to a circular economy. This study investigates the monetary damage related to emissions to the atmosphere in seven EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) to find out which materials caused what and how much damage along the chain, from extraction to waste, in 2008 and 2015