Almost €47 billion (61.4% of total environmental protection investments) was spent by corporations on purchasing technologies and equipment to reduce environmental pressures from their production processes (for example, equipment to reduce air emissions). The general government and the non-profit sector accounted for the remaining 38.6% of investments.
Most investments went into wastewater and waste management services: 38.2% and 24.8% of the total investments in environmental protection, respectively. Protection against radiation, R&D and other environmental protection activities accounted for 14.0% and air and climate protection for 11.2%. Soil and groundwater protection made up 5.6%, biodiversity and landscape protection 5.2%, and noise reduction accounted for the remaining 1.0%.
