Environmental protection expenditure, 2001

The investment level was 26 per cent lower than in 2000, while the industries' total investments rose by 8 per cent.

Manufacturing, mining and quarrying industries invested a total of NOK 586 million in equipment that reduces pollutant emissions, also called "end-of-pipe" investments or external process investments. This equals 3.5 per cent of the industries' total investments. This type of equipment is external to the production process and treats, prevents, controls or measures pollution.

The investments are classified according to environmental domains: air/climate, wastewater - including production water- waste, soil and groundwater, biodiversity and landscape, and other. 51 per cent of the environmental protection investments were made to reduce air emissions. The corresponding values for wastewater and waste were 26 and 10 per cent, respectively.

Basic metal industry invested the most in environmental protection

The basic metals industry invested the most in environmental protection, while the mineral products industry invested the most in terms of per cent of the gross investments. More than 10 per cent, or NOK 284 million, were invested by the basic metals industry in environmental protection measures. The corresponding values in the mineral products industry were 13 per cent, or NOK 68 million.

In the production of food and beverages, petroleum and chemical products, and in the pulp and paper industry, important investments were especially focused on wastewater and protection of air/climate. Major changes in investment levels from one year to the next may often be due to specific investments made by large enterprises. In most cases, however, this kind of investment account for only about 1-2 per cent of an industry's gross investment.

Newly established statistics

Please note that these statistics do not include all kinds of environmental protection investments in the manufacturing and the mining and quarrying industries. Investments in new or modified production processes where environmental protection equipment are integrated into the main production processes are not included. These figures will be published for 2002. This is the second year that companies report environmental protection investments as part of the annual industry survey. For the year 2001, the companies have to a larger extent divided the investments according to specific environmental domain instead of grouping them in the category "other". At the same time, some large investments are difficult to divide according to specific environmental focus.

Tables:

• Table 1 Environmental protection investment in pollution treatment equipment (end-of-pipe) in Manufacturing, Mining and Quarrying. 2000 and 2001