Environmental prices are constructed prices for the social cost of pollution, expressed in Euros per kilogram pollutant. Environmental prices thus indicate the loss of economic welfare that occurs when one additional kilogram of the pollutant finds its way into the environment. These prices can also be calculated for immaterial forms of pollution such as noise nuisance and ionizing radiation. In such cases the environmental price is expressed in Euros per unit of nuisance or exposure (in decibels, for example).
Environmental prices provide average values for the Netherlands, for emissions from an average emission source at an average emission site in the year 2015. In this Handbook these prices are presented at three levels:
At pollutant level: a value for emissions of environmentally damaging substances.
At midpoint level: a value for environmental themes such as climate change or acidification.
At endpoint level: a value for the impacts of environmental pollution, such as damage to human health or ecosystem services.
The methodology used in this Environmental Prices Handbook is designed to harmonize the values at pollutant, midpoint and endpoint level, to achieve consistent valuation of the impacts or pollution in the Netherlands.
CE Delft first published an Environmental Prices Handbook in 2010 (then known as the Shadow Prices Handbook). An update of this was published in 2017: the Environmental Prices Handbook 2017. The Environmental Prices Handbook 2023 replaces the 2017 version.
Environmental prices of more than 3,000 substances can be found in the online tool.