UK businesses spent £2.2 billion on environmental protection in 2022, latest ONS data shows

£2.2 billion. That is how much UK businesses in selected industries spent on environmental protection in 2022, according to the latest published Environmental Protection Expenditure (EPE) Survey from the Office for National Statistics. The bulletin, published on 23 August 2024, gave the most recent reference year currently available; data for 2024 is scheduled for release later this year on the ONS’s standard two-year publication lag.

The figure captures spending by businesses on cleaner air, waste treatment, water protection and biodiversity-related compliance — but, by design, it is only one slice of the total UK picture. UK public sector spending on environment protection in 2023/24 was about £15.3 billion on separate ONS figures, while household and broader government expenditure are captured in the wider UK Environmental Accounts.

What the EPE Survey actually measures

The ONS’s Environmental Protection Expenditure Survey is a business-only instrument. It samples firms in manufacturing, mining and quarrying, electricity and gas supply, and water supply, sewerage and waste management — the industries where the bulk of corporate environmental compliance and abatement spending sits. It does not cover government departments, local authorities, or households directly.

That distinction matters. The headline £2.2 billion is, in effect, the price-tag on UK industry’s environmental compliance bill in 2022 — cleaner production processes, end-of-pipe pollution controls, capital investment in lower-emission technology, and the operating cost of running those systems. It is not a measure of total national environmental investment; that figure, when assembled across general government, businesses and households via the broader UK Environmental Accounts, is materially larger.

The ONS has tracked the business-level EPE Survey series back to 1995, giving three decades of comparable industry-level data. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has historically supported the survey’s scope and methodology.

European context

Across the European Union, total environmental protection expenditure reached €360 billion in 2024, on Eurostat figures. More than half — 51% — came from corporations investing in cleaner operations and environmental compliance. The trend has been upward: between 2018 and 2023, EU corporate environmental spending rose by 33%.

By environmental purpose, the EU mix is dominated by wastewater management at 41.6% of corporate environmental investment, followed by waste management at 26.6%, with air protection accounting for 10.4%. (Source: Eurostat environmental protection expenditure accounts.)

What the £2.2 billion figure leaves out

For UK readers trying to make sense of the headline number, the most important caveat is what the EPE Survey is not. It is not a national environmental investment total. It does not capture council-level spending on waste collection, recycling or street cleansing. It does not capture Defra grant programmes or Environment Agency operating costs. It does not capture household spending on water bills, council tax-funded waste services, or domestic energy efficiency.

For those, the broader UK Environmental Accounts — published annually by the ONS — assemble general government, business and household environmental expenditure into a wider total. Public-sector environmental spending alone, on those broader figures, was around £15.3 billion in 2023/24, comfortably the largest single component of overall UK environmental expenditure.

Why the publication lag matters

The two-year lag between reference year and publication is not unusual for survey-based statistics, but it limits the EPE Survey’s usefulness as a current-policy barometer. The 2022 figure of £2.2 billion was published in August 2024; the 2024 figure is expected later this year, with 2025 data not due until 2027. Policy decisions on net-zero spending, emissions-trading-scheme reform, and water-industry investment are therefore being taken without the most recent business-environmental-spending data in the public record.

For the businesses surveyed, that lag matters less — they have their own internal forward look. For policymakers, journalists and campaigners, it means the EPE Survey is a backward-looking instrument that needs pairing with more current sources to assess whether environmental investment is keeping pace with environmental commitment.

Key Takeaways

• UK business spending on environmental protection totalled £2.2 billion in 2022, the latest year for which the ONS Environmental Protection Expenditure Survey has published data.
• The survey covers UK businesses in selected industries only (manufacturing, mining and quarrying, electricity and gas supply, water supply and waste management) — not government, not households.
• UK public sector spending on environment protection was around £15.3 billion in 2023/24, on separate ONS public-sector finance data.
• The EPE Survey runs on a roughly two-year publication lag — 2024 figures are due later this year.
• EU environmental protection expenditure reached €360 billion in 2024, with corporate investment up 33% since 2018, on Eurostat data.

What This Means for Kent Residents

Kent businesses operating in manufacturing, water and waste management, and energy supply are captured directly within the UK EPE Survey’s sample, contributing to the £2.2 billion business total. Kent households and council taxpayers contribute to the wider environmental spending picture through council tax-funded waste and recycling services, water and sewerage charges, and indirect funding of Defra and Environment Agency operations — spending that sits in the broader UK Environmental Accounts rather than in the EPE Survey’s business-only headline. For Kent residents wanting to understand the full local environmental cost picture, the EPE business figure is one input among several rather than the bottom line.