Environmental prices are constructed prices that reflect the social cost of environmental pollution and express it in euros per kilogram of pollutant. Environmental prices thus reflect the loss of welfare that occurs if one additional kilogram of the substance is released into the environment. Moreover, environmental prices can also be applied to immaterial forms of pollution, such as noise nuisance or ionizing radiation. In such cases, environmental prices are expressed in euros per unit of nuisance, for example in decibels. This means that the environmental price is equivalent to the external cost in most cases.
Environmental prices provide average valuations for emissions from an average emission source at an average emission location in the Netherlands in the year 2019. The Environmental Prices Handbook presents valuations for more than 500 environmentally hazardous substances at three levels: a lower and an upper value recommended for use in social cost-benefit analyses (SCBAs) and a central value that can be used by companies and in life cycle assessments (LCAs).
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.