Does the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register Enable Us to Understand the Environmental Performance of Firms?

Abstract

The study explores a new micro environmental data set, the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR), by identifying limitations and potential strengths. We find that reporting requirements exclude on-site abatement through end-of-the-pipe techniques and cleaner technologies causing underestimation of firms' actual abatement. In addition, the lack of a mandatory section on production volume and firm size hinders data normalization and the use of control variables in economic analysis. Addressing the above limitations can make the E-PRTR more usable for policy-makers, environmentalists and academicians. Furthermore, the paper proposes a normalization procedure based on calculating how much beyond the threshold a firm has abated or emitted; and normalized values are used to approximate the environmental performance of firms. Analysis based on a sample of manufacturing firms suggests that industrial facilities in Europe have performed well in terms of abating a higher percentage of their gross pollution.

Improving Mandatory Environmental Data Reporting for Comparable and Reliable Environmental Performance Indicators

“…Available data on the transfer of pollutants in wastewater through pipes for treatment and the transfer of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes for recovery and disposal only indicate abatement efforts through end-of-the-pipe-type techniques. Even though cleaner technologies solve environmental problems better by preventing rather than just treating pollution, the E-PRTR provides no mechanisms to identify and reward regulated facilities which rely on these technologies [28,29]. Future data collection can easily be improved by including questions to identify whether facilities are engaged in any source reduction activities or activities that use less natural resources.…”