Presentation - Workshop 2: The implementation of the Polluter Pays Principle, Gloria de Paoli & Pierre Strosser, ACTEON

1. Addressing diffuse pollution from
agriculture in Member States
Gloria de Paoli & Pierre Strosser (ACTeon, France)
Polluter-Pays Principle – March 29th, 2022
The presentation will be shared with participants after the session

2. 1. Setting the scene: agriculture and
diffuse pollution in Member States

3. Development of agriculture: a journey through
Europe
Origins:
Anatolia and
Levantine
coast, by
around 10000
BC
Crete – around 9000 BC
North-West Europe –
around 6000 BC
Greece, around 8000
BC:
wild emmer, barley, lentils,
grass peas and three types
of wheat – domestication of
farm animals

4. Agriculture in the EU today
• Today, cropland covers 870 000 km2 or 22% of the
total EU 28 surface
• Cereals, and especially wheat and maize, are the
most common crops in the EU, followed by sugar
beet.
• Livestock (2020) in the EU:146 million pigs, 76
million bovine animals and 75 million sheep and
goats
• 10.5 millions of farms (average farm size of 16
hectares) and over 10 million people working in
agriculture (70% older than 40)
[Source: Eurostat]

5. Pesticides in EU freshwater
• Surface waters: pesticides found in 13% to 30% of monitoring sites between
2013 & 2019 – Mainly insecticides and herbicides, all approved for use in plant
protection products during the monitoring period
• Groundwaters: pesticides found in 3% to 7% of monitoring sites between
2013 & 2019 – Mainly atrazine, not approved for use in the monitoring period
and subject to restrictions since 2007 → very persistent
• Not yet possible to determine a trend, losses from the application of pesticides
varying considerably between years depending on several factors
[Source: EEA]

6. Nutrients in EU freshwater - Nitrates
[Source: EEA]
Rather stable
Steady decrease until 2010 (likely effects of
measures to reduce agricultural inputs of nitrate and
improvements in waste water treatment). Apparent
stabilisation after 2010

7. Nutrients in EU freshwater - Phosphorous
[Source: EEA]
Marked decrease in both GW and SW (related to improvements in
wastewater treatment, reduction of phosphorus in detergents…). Stabilisation
in recent years

8. Diffuse pollution and groundwater chemical
status in the EU
[Source: EEA]

9. Dealing with diffuse pollution from agriculture
in the EU water aquis
[Source: EEA]
Water Framework
Directive
2000/60/EC
Nitrates Directive
91/676/EEC
Groundwater
Directive 2006/118/EC
Plant Protection
Products Directive
91/414/EEC
Biocides Directive
98/8/EC
Common Agricultural
Policy

10. 2. Applying the PPP to diffuse pollution
from agriculture

11. Where do we stand in applying the PPP to
diffuse pollution from agriculture?
• A share of (diffuse) pollution costs is covered by water bills
(costs of treatment necessary to bring abstracted water up
to drinking water quality standards).
• For example, in France, diffuse pollution from agriculture
(nitrates + pesticides) results in estimated additional
treatment costs of respectively Euro 610 + 1,070 million per
year.
• Illustrating the deviation from the Polluter Pays Principle
(costs of remediation covered by domestic water users
rather than activities causing pollution) and the need for
adequate policy and management responses

12. Challenges in applying the PPP to diffuse
pollution from agriculture
• Difficulty in measuring discharge of pollutants at the level
of individual polluters
• High variability, both spatially and temporally, making the
attribution of pollution sources complex.
• High transaction costs from dealing with large numbers of
heterogeneous polluters (e.g. farmers, homeowners, local
authorities…).
• Required co-operation and agreement within and between
catchments, and across sub-national jurisdictions and
countries.

13. Regulatory instruments to apply the PPP to
diffuse pollution
• Banning environmentally risky farm practices → aligned with PPP
Example: Norway
Regulation forbids fertilizer storage located in areas with risk of flooding or close to rivers
and streams. Requires sufficient manure storage capacity and spreading area. Forbids
manure spreading in wintertime and on frozen fields
• Farming inputs and outputs regulation → aligned with PPP
Example: The Netherlands
Requirements for management practices limiting the use of plant protection products for
catch crops beyond the minimum required under EU rules

14. Taxes on nitrates and pesticides
Pesticide Tax - Denmark
Combined with (Danish Pesticides
Strategy) approval system for pesticides,
the control of substances, the increase of
knowledge through research and
information and guidance
Pesticides and Nitrates fees -
France
Higher rates for riskier
phytosanitary products
70% of the revenues for the Water
Agencies’ budget, and 30% for the
French Office for Biodiversity
(OFB) to fund the Ecophyto Plan
Pesticide Tax - Sweden
Based on the weight of the product
Proposed - Fee on diffuse pollution from
agriculture - Bulgaria

15. Tradable phosphate rights system
The Netherlands
The only EU country with such a
system in place, to ensure that
phosphate use in the agricultural
sector remains below set
phosphate ceiling → cap and
reduce diffuse pollution from
agriculture

16. Payments for ecosystem services
France
Water Agencies provide financial support (150 million EUR over
the years 2019-2021) to test Payments for Ecosystem Services
(PES) on pilot sites.
Schemes proposed support agro-ecological transition, address
biodiversity losses and water quality issues (As of June 2020,
about 100 PES schemes were at the project stage)

17. Financing Nature-Based Solutions
Italy
To address intensive agriculture and eutrophication of the Venice lagoon, the
Veneto Region financed measures of re-calibration of riverbeds aimed at the
renaturation of the hydraulic web to increase the time of permanence of water
and phytodepuration processes.
In this case, the PPP is partly satisfied, as irrigation water users pay
abstraction charges and irrigation water tariffs to entities in charge of
implementing the measures.

18. 3. In conclusion…

19. A few remarks
• Despite improvements, pollution levels in water bodies have stabilized
above set policy objectives/targets
• A common policy framework translated into… a diversity of approaches
and policy delivery mechanisms/instruments that combines pragmatism,
effectiveness and the application of the PPP
• Ahead of us:
• Ambition: The zero-pollution ambition of the EU Green deal
• Instruments: The new eco-schemes of the Common Agricultural
Policy (voluntary payment schemes from Pillar 1/direct payments that
support a ‘list of agricultural practices beneficial for climate change and
the environment’ beyond mandatory basic requirements and standards)
• Context: many climate, policy, market and societal uncertainties

20. Many thanks for your attention!
Gloria de Paoli & Pierre Strosser (ACTeon, France)
Polluter-Pays Principle – March 29th, 2022
The presentation will be shared with participants after the session