The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) launched a public database on Thursday 10 September and criticised the majority of Member State governments for withholding crucial information on industrial pollution, which is a requirement under EU legislation.
The database will help to identify which large industrial facilities are complying with their obligations under EU legislation.
The tool, which is known as the Industrial Plant Data Viewer, compares data from over 3000 large combustion plants across the EU and checks whether they comply with pollution prevention requirements.
According to this tool, Germany is the EU Member State that has submitted the fewest reports on dangerous industrial emissions, while Italy is the most transparent, followed by Ireland, the Czech Republic and Croatia.
EU legislation (IED Directive 2010/75/EU) requires operators of large industrial facilities to provide annual compliance reports and to monitor results of environmental performance.
The national authorities are required to make this information available to the public, including operating permits.
The Viewer can be accessed via: https://bit.ly/35AIrQL (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)