Quantifying the economic impact: a methodological approach to estimate soil pollution costs in Luxembourg

Soil provides fundamental life-support services without which human civilizations would cease to thrive. Soil ecosystem services offer both direct and indirect use values. Indirectly, soil benefits society by ensuring public health and well-being while directly serving as a crucial production factor in agriculture, forestry, and settlement spaces, thereby conferring monetary value to land. Furthermore, soil holds nonuse value, reflecting its societal heritage. Soil pollution, a form of soil degradation, disrupts soil properties and functions, thereby impairing the ecosystem services provided and resulting in economic costs for society. Although the cost of soil pollution is likely substantial, there is no consensus on a methodology for estimating it. One approach involves quantifying the loss of value from degraded soil ecosystem services, but this is impractical due to insufficient knowledge of the quantitative relationships between soil properties, ecosystem services, and their economic values. An alternative concept consists of defining an exhaustive list of cost types induced by soil pollution and valuing them. This study proposes a novel staged methodology based on this concept. It leverages real field data and extrapolates findings to the national level in Luxembourg, making it replicable for any country, provided the necessary data are available. According to the methodology developed, the annual cost of soil pollution in Luxembourg would range from 85 to 149 million euros. This initial estimation, although cautious due to uncertainties such as limited field data affecting national representativeness and the focus on point source soil pollution, offers a promising starting point for understanding the economic impact of soil pollution. This practical application will provide valuable insights into the economic effects of polluted sites, aiding policymakers in devising strategies to mitigate these costs and enhance land management practices.