EPS (Environmental Priority Strategy)
The EPS indicator stands for the damage that is caused by the effects of the production of a material or by a process. This damage is expressed in financial terms. One ELU (Environmental Load Unit) corresponds approximately to one ECU.
Safeguard subjects
The EPS indicator includes damage done to five safeguard subjects:
| Resources |  |
or depletion of resources. |
| Human health | |
or the loss of health and the number of extra deaths as a result of the environmental effects. |
| Production | |
or the economic damage of the environmental effects (particularly in agriculture). |
| Biodiversity | |
or the disappearance of plant or animal species. |
| Aesthetic values | |
the perception of natural beauty. |
Calculation of the EPS indicator
The valuation is based on three different principles:
| 1. | Raw materials depletion is valuated by looking at the future extraction costs for raw materials. These are the costs that must be expended in order to extract the "last" raw materials resources. |
| 2. | The production losses are measured directly from the estimated reduction in agricultural yields and industrial damage (for instance corrosion). |
| 3. | The other three safeguard subjects are valuated in terms of the willingness-to-pay principle. The sums that a society is prepared to pay for ill health or the death of its citizens, the extinction of plants and animals and impairment of natural beauty are examined. |
The total score is found by totaling up the financial sums of the five safeguard subjects.
