Today, the European Commisson released its study “Cost of PFAS pollution to our society” providing further evidence of how much we pay to maintain PFAS uses across the European Economic Area.
The costs for removing PFAS from raw drinking water to meet current EU requirements were estimated at €3.8 billion in 2024. The removal of ultra short-chain PFAS would add around €14-15 billion per year. Compliance with the new PFAS limit value for surface water bodies as stipulated in the revised Environmental Quality Standards Directive might lead to an annual cost burden of more than €70billion for the wastewater sector. Depending on the ambition levels of remediation efforts, total societal costs could reach nearly €2 trillion until 2050.
The study assesses four scenarios ranging from Business as usual to a total PFAS ban. Ecosystems service costs and the losses for the food supply chain are not quantified. The assessment of health costs is limited to PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS and PFNA due to a lack of data.
Oliver Loebel, EurEau Secretary General, stated: “While the impacts of PFAS pollution on all of us should already provide sufficient justification for a prompt and far-reaching PFAS ban, it is also important to demonstrate the overall economic impacts of PFAS pollution. Limiting the PFAS ban to consumer applications only, as proposed by the European Commission, is insufficient if we truly want to protect public health and strengthen Europe’s water resilience.”