Ekopol group at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) has developed an environmental information system to utilize data from the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register and a life cycle approach to analyze national, regional, and municipal environmental impacts. The study was published in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment.
A polluting factory. Image Credit: University of the Basque Country
The researchers also examined data collected from industrial facilities in the Basque Country between 2007 and 2022.
Large industrial plants need to provide the administrations with data on their releases into the land, the water, and the air, which the European Union records in the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR). However, this information is not very useful in its current form, so to analyze these data, we have created the Amalur EIS environmental information system to bring the impacts of all pollutants into a single indicator.
Gorka Bueno, Researcher, University of the Basque Country
The Amalur EIS system calculates environmental impacts based on information from the E-PRTR register, using data on releases to land, air, and water from 31,388 industrial plants across Europe between 2007 and 2022. It can perform calculations using 31 different life cycle impact assessment methods and includes 78 of the 91 pollutants regulated by the E-PRTR protocol.
The system considers various aspects of environmental impacts, such as climate change, toxicity to ecosystems and humans, tropospheric ozone generation, acidification, and particle formation.
“We often focus on climate change, global warming, but we have to take into account that there are many other types of impacts and that, in addition to releases into the air, those into the water, and the land also need to be borne in mind,” explained the Ecopol researcher.
Understanding the Data to Make Decisions
As the Ekopol research group Bueno member explained, this system “converts and quantifies the emission data on industrial pollutants into environmental impacts. Amalur EIS is a valuable tool for monitoring the transition to sustainability, especially in Europe. In fact, it provides an opportunity to obtain comprehensive information on the environmental impact, for example, to find out which facilities generate the greatest impacts in the economic sectors, and to identify economic sectors, etc.”
The system's goal is to provide this data to researchers, policymakers, businesses, and the general public.
By employing the standardization and weighting methods recommended by the European Commission, the Ekopol researchers utilized the Amalur EIS system to analyze data for both Europe and the Basque Country.
Climate change carries the most significant weight in Europe's total environmental impact, accounting for 68.6%, and “out of all industrial activities, the energy sector exerts the greatest impact (59.5% of the total). Geographically, these two elements coincide in the German regions of Düsseldorf, Cologne, and Brandenburg, resulting in a concentration of the greatest regional impacts in Europe. In fact, Germany is the country with the greatest impact, accounting for 20.3% of the total,” explained the UPV/EHU researcher.
The information is presented in a very meaningful way on the Amalur EIS website.
Environmental Impact of Industrial Plants in the Basque Country
To illustrate the tool's potential, the Ekopol researchers derived numerous conclusions from the data and compiled a list. According to these results, “the Petronor plants (Muskiz, Bizkaia) generate the greatest impact (25% of what all the plants generate). The six main plants in the mineral industry (mainly cement industries) account for 16.9% of the total impact and the seven thermal power plants account for 17% of the total (the second most polluting plants are the two Total Energies combined cycle plants located in Castejón, Navarre).”
The next most impactful sector in the Basque Country is waste treatment, contributing 12.5% of the total impact (the Galindo WWTP ranks as the 5th most polluting plant, the Zabalgarbi incinerator as the 12th, and the Artigas landfill is 23rd).
Geographically, Bizkaia has the largest impact, accounting for 52% of the total and housing 10 of the 25 most polluting installations. Navarre has seven installations and contributes 23.7% of the total impact, while Gipuzkoa has five installations, accounting for 17.8%. Álava has three installations and 6.3% of the total, and the Continental Basque Country contributes only 0.5% of the total, with its most polluting installation ranking 55th.
Journal Reference:
Sasia, I., et al. (2025) Amalur EIS: a system for calculating the environmental impacts of industrial sites from E-PRTR records. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. doi.org/10.1007/s10661-024-13565-3