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Abstract

In the Anthropocene, humanity faces many questions related to the condition of our planet, as well as severely damaging effects on humans and the surrounding environment. An example of a mineral with versatile applications in daily human activities, yet which eventually revealed harmful consequences for both human health and the environment, is asbestos. Europe was, after the United States, the second region in terms of the development of the asbestos-containing products industry. The ban on asbestos use was introduced in the European Union (EU) in 2005. However, most Member States have not adopted comprehensive removal frameworks or quantified the remaining stock for systematic decontamination. We conducted a cross-national comparison of Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Belgium, evaluating six dimensions of policy readiness: statutory mandate, stock estimation, removal programs, registry/GIS coverage, dedicated funding, and health and safety measures. A comparison of the policies applied, and activities undertaken made it possible to identify a pathway for both the EU and other countries. Our analysis highlights Poland as best practice exemplar, combining clear legislative deadlines (e.g. completion of roof inventories by 2032), performance-based co-financing schemes, and centralized data infrastructures (e.g. GeoAzbest). These local decisions on policy development have a great influence on environmental change since buildings represent one of the most important sectors for final energy demand in Europe. We recommend that high-consuming Member States adopt mandatory removal timelines, establish national registers of asbestos-cement roofs, and implement tailored financial incentives such as competitive grants. Given that the EU has committed to reducing its emissions by 80%–95% by 2050, coupling asbestos removal with energy efficiency renovations will deliver co-benefits that advance both public health and climate objectives.

Keywords

Anthropocene asbestos;asbestos-cement roofs Green Deal Renovation Wave

Introduction

Over the last 300 years, human activities have increasingly impacted the Earth’s environment. Due to these human-induced releases of carbon dioxide, the planet’s climate may deviate significantly from its natural patterns (Crutzen, 2002). The Anthropocene is the age of man dominated by human activities (Zalasiewicz et al., 2014). At present, human actions exert such a profound and far-reaching impact that discussing the condition of our planet without acknowledging human influence is impossible. Humanity grapples with the challenge of alleviating many consequences of human-induced alterations to the natural environment, including air pollution, which may surpass our capacity to manage adverse changes instigated by humans. According to the latest estimates by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Earth will warm by 2.2°C to 3.5°C during this century (IPCC, 2023). Climate change is a global problem, which is why it requires the cooperation of countries from all over the world.

In 2015, world leaders agreed on new ambitious goals to combat this phenomenon (Paris Agreement, 2015). Therefore, EU countries have decided that the EU will be a change leader and will take actions that will make it the world’s first economy and first society to become climate-neutral by 2050. The European Parliament recently adopted the so-called building directive (Directive, 2023). Its goal is to reduce energy consumption and move away from fossil fuels in construction. In practice, it means, among others: extensive thermal modernization and, the withdrawal of gas furnaces and coal boilers. Almost 75% of buildings are energy inefficient and will require energy renovation. These include buildings covered with asbestos-cement roofs, for which no comprehensive measures are taken by EU countries. In recent decades, there has been a rise in cases of diseases linked to asbestos exposure (Marsili et al., 2016; Wilk and Krówczyńska, 2021), yet despite ongoing warnings from health experts, the issue is not receiving adequate attention on the political agenda. When discussing the Anthropocene, debates often rely on long-term environmental indicators that measure the pressure on the environment caused by production within a particular area, overlooking the location of final consumption (Brolin and Kander, 2022). One of many toxic substances that are released into the environment is asbestos fibers released from the use of asbestos-cement roofing and removal process. The aspect of the potential risk associated with the use of asbestos-cement roofs and the possibility of estimating the amount of this hazardous waste was taken up (Krówczyńska and Wilk, 2024).

Asbestos, a group of fibrous minerals including chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, anthophyllite, actinolite, and tremolite, is valued in the industry for its strong, flexible, chemically, and thermally resistant properties, and high electrical resistance, allowing its widespread use (Virta, 2006). During the 1960s and 1970s, asbestos-containing products reached their production peak, with over 3000 industrial and economic applications (Virta, 2002). Asbestos-cement roofs are the main asbestos-containing product used nowadays worldwide, more than 80% (Collegium Ramazzini, 2010).

Asbestos has been designated as a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the specialized cancer research body operating under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO). Considering the imperative to eliminate asbestos from the environment to mitigate asbestos-related illnesses, both the World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization have advocated for the creation of National Asbestos Profiles within initiatives aimed at eradicating asbestos-related diseases. WHO has recommended that all nations enact initiatives targeting the regulation and removal of carcinogens in both occupational and environmental settings, asbestos included. Elimination of asbestos from use has been highlighted as a crucial intervention area within the realm of environmental exposure (WHO, 2007).

Due to the harmful effect of asbestos on human health, in many countries around the world measures are taken to limit or eliminate asbestos from production and use (Krówczyńska and Wilk, 2019). In the European Economic Community, the prohibition of trade and the use of chrysotile was introduced by Council Directive 76/769/EEC of July 27, 1976, on the approximation of the laws, regulations, and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to restrictions on the marketing and use of certain dangerous substances and preparations. These regulations entered into force on January 1, 2005 (Commission Directive, 1999). The European Union emphasizes the urgent priority of completely removing all used asbestos and asbestos-containing products (EESC Opinion, 2015).

Research is being conducted to compare the use of raw asbestos fibers in production in individual countries on an international level. Lin et al. (2019) have investigated associations between government ratification of the International Labor Organization (C162 Asbestos Convention) and United Nations International Conventions (Basel Convention), government effectiveness, and implementation of a national total asbestos ban for 99 countries to claim that the adoption of conventions facilitates countries in moving toward a total asbestos ban. Also, the historical consumption of raw asbestos fibers in different countries is analyzed in terms of asbestos-related diseases (Gariazzo et al., 2023; Kazan-Allen, 2005; Lin et al., 2007; Stayner et al., 2013).

Despite undertaking research on comparing countries in terms of raw asbestos consumption in production, there is a lack of data and research on the current state of use of asbestos-containing products in various countries. This is crucial for the identification of the environmental asbestos exposure risk and the implementation of the Paris Agreement. This is important both concerning examining disease incidence and estimating the risk associated with the removal of asbestos-cement roofs, ensuring adequate capacity of landfills accepting hazardous waste containing asbestos. Despite the regulatory ban, significant quantities of asbestos persist in building construction materials. Moreover, not all Member States within the European Union have established comprehensive registries detailing the location and quantity of asbestos-containing products for disposal.

Consequently, a reliable baseline is lacking for accurately assessing the extent of the asbestos issue in EU countries, hindering effective management of environmental risks associated with its presence. For cross-country comparisons, the primary data source is derived from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), which annually gathers information on asbestos extraction and production of asbestos fibers across individual countries (Virta, 2006). This data serves as the foundation for deriving indicators of asbestos consumption in manufacturing goods (Le et al., 2010). However, it must be stressed that these data are not sufficient to develop policies for the elimination of asbestos from the natural and human environment.

Emerging remote sensing techniques, combined with recent breakthroughs in self-supervised learning (SSL) and multi-sensor fusion (Abdulrazzaq et al., 2024; Khan et al., 2024), may offer a realistic path toward large scale inventories of asbestos-cement roofing. These approaches learn robust visual features from vast collections of unlabeled aerial imagery and require only a small set of annotated examples, reducing therefore mapping costs and laying the groundwork for targeted removal programs across the EU.

This paper aims to examine the initiatives implemented for the removal of asbestos-cement roofing and the application of the Paris Agreement in terms of building modernization within the European Union countries with the highest rates of asbestos consumption in production. By comparing actions and decision-making mechanisms, the study aims to identify a potential course of action for asbestos-cement roof removal leading to the thermal modernization of buildings. Moreover, the study aims to advocate for the formulation of policies aimed at promoting of the asbestos-cement roof removal, thereby fostering thermal modernization initiatives in buildings, and consequently reducing carbon dioxide emissions from heating systems the European Union’s transition to a green building approach.

Raw asbestos consumption in the EU until the introduced ban

National consumption figures for 1920–2004 were obtained from the U.S. Geological Survey’s mineral commodity summaries (Virta, 2006), which provide the quantitative foundation for Figures 1 to 3 and guided the selection of the six highest-consuming Member States. We then systematically retrieved each country’s primary policy documents, encompassing national asbestos ban legislation, removal program mandates, registry/GIS decrees, and funding regulations, directly from the respective environmental, health, and labor ministry websites. To contextualize these national measures within broader international efforts, we reviewed cross-national reports and guidance issued by the World Health Organization, the International Labor Organization, and the OECD. Finally, we conducted a targeted review of peer-reviewed literature in leading academic databases to identify empirical studies and policy analyses on asbestos-cement roofing and its removal. Publications were selected based on relevance to national policy frameworks, timeliness, and availability in English.

Figure 1.

Total consumption of raw asbestos until the ban in EU15 and countries admitted to EU since 2004.

Figure 2.

Asbestos consumption in individual EU countries in 1920–2004.

Figure 3.

Share of individual EU countries in the consumption of asbestos in the years 1920–2004.

Historical asbestos consumption statistics provide a robust indicator of the potential volume of asbestos-cement products originally placed on the market, but they are not used here as a stand-alone predictor of today’s roof stock. The persistence of asbestos-cement roofs depends on service life, renovation and demolition rates, and national removal campaigns, all of which vary by country and period. Consequently, we employ consumption data solely to rank Member States by the scale of their historical asbestos use; current prevalence figures are taken from country level post-ban stock estimates, hazardous waste flow reports or from available data and peer-reviewed studies (López-Abente et al., 2013; Marsili et al., 2017; NAP, 2014; Rapport d’information n°37, 2005; Van der Borre and Deboosere, 2016).

Most of the raw asbestos used in Western Europe was imported from Canada and South Africa, and in Eastern Europe from the Soviet Union (Russia and Kazakhstan). Europe is, after the United States, the second region in terms of the development of the asbestos-containing products industry (Virta, 2006). In total, the consumption of asbestos in production in the 27 EU countries in the period 1920–2004 amounted to over 5.8 million tons, of which 76% of asbestos was used in production in EU15 countries, and 24% in other EU27 countries (Figure 1).

The Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991. After 1991, asbestos trade data became available for the following EU countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Yugoslavia was divided in 1991. After 1991, asbestos trade data become available for the following EU countries: Croatia, and Slovenia. Czechoslovakia was divided in 1993 into Czechia and Slovakia.

In 1920, EU countries consumed almost 16,000 tons of asbestos. By 1930, the estimated consumption had risen to 63,000 tons. In 1940–1950, the highest increase in the consumption of asbestos in production among the current EU countries was recorded in Belgium Luxembourg, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, and Italy. In the 1950s, the consumption of asbestos in Austria, Belgium Luxembourg, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, and Italy increased significantly. In the 1950s the total consumption of asbestos in production amounted to 278,000 tons. Much of the increase in asbestos use in the late 1940s and much of the 1950s can be attributed to massive efforts to rebuild Europe after World War II (Virta, 2006). Starting from the 1960s until the 1980s in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, and Poland a significant increase in the consumption of asbestos in production is observed. In the 1970s and 1980s, asbestos consumption remained at the level of 2.0 and 1.8 million tons respectively. After 1980, demand in European Union countries began to decrease (Figure 2). This trend continued in the 1990s, and raw asbestos consumption in the EU was 904,000 tons.

Almost 26% of raw asbestos consumption in production in EU countries falls in Germany, 13%—in France, and 11%—in Italy, which gives these three countries almost half of the total consumption of asbestos in production in EU countries. 8% of total consumption each falls on Poland and Spain, 5%—on Belgium, and 3%—on Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary. The remaining countries record the share of asbestos consumption in the entire EU as below 2% (Figure 3). These percentage shares were derived from the USGS consumption series, whereas the subsequent country specific examinations draw on additional national datasets that frequently diverge from the global compilation; such discrepancies highlight the pressing need for robust, up-to-date estimates of the asbestos-cement roofs that remain in use in each Member State.

EU countries with the highest raw asbestos consumption in production and the potential scale of the problem with the removal of asbestos-cement roofs for the process of green modernization of buildings

Germany

The largest share in the consumption of raw asbestos in production in the EU countries was noted for Germany. In Germany, the ban on chrysotile was implemented in 1993 (Baur, 2018). It is estimated that between 1950 and 1990, approximately 4.35 million tons of asbestos fibers were imported to Germany (combined data for the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic). 96% of the import was chrysotile, white asbestos (Hagemeyer et al., 2006).

Seven-three percentage of asbestos-containing products manufactured in Germany were asbestos-cement products for the construction industry, 8% were floor tiles, 6% were insulating construction materials, 5% were friction products, that is, brake disks and pads, and 4% were woven materials. Approximately 33 million tons of asbestos-cement products with an expected service life of 40–50 years were produced in the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Democratic Republic of Germany—almost 10 million tons of asbestos-containing products. In total, about 43 million tons of asbestos-cement products were produced in Germany, of which 35.7 million tons remained to be removed, mainly asbestos-cement roofs (NAP, 2014). All types of asbestos-containing waste are hazardous waste, the transport and disposal of which are subject to legal requirements.

France

France with a share of 13% is a country in which a significant amount of asbestos was used for production. A ban on asbestos use was introduced in 1997 (Décret, 1996). More than 90% of the asbestos used in France was in the form of asbestos cement in the construction and building sector. Asbestos was also used for flocking or lagging and vinyl-asbestos tiles in flooring (Ministère de la Transition Écologique, 2005). The obligation to identify asbestos-containing products used in buildings rests with their owners. It is estimated that approximately 24 million tons of asbestos-containing products are used in buildings in the construction of walls, in resins for floor panels, in bituminous products, roof sealing, in paints, rubbers, and adhesives (Rapport d’information n°37, 2005). Concerning the use of asbestos-containing products, information, and education activities are carried out. The main emphasis is placed on informing about the proper conduct of works related to the removal of asbestos-containing products during renovations, modernization works, and other construction works (Ministère de la Transition Écologique, 2005). The inter-departmental action plan to improve the prevention of asbestos-related risks (PAIA), piloted by the ministries responsible for health, labor, environment, and construction, was implemented, which aims to prevent asbestos-related risks by facilitating the implementation of regulations, supporting the development of the skills of actors in various affected areas of activity, supporting research and development approaches, and proposing monitoring and evaluation tools (Program national, 2019). It is postulated to develop a national asbestos removal strategy, defining funding priorities and linking it with action plans in the field of occupational health, by 2050 (Rapport d’information n° 668, 2014). Until 1965, the Canari asbestos mine operated, on the coast of Corsica, where around 300 1000 tons of asbestos were extracted (Rapport d’information n°37, 2005). There is no available data on the number of asbestos-cement products in use and their spatial distribution, as well as the date of cessation of their use. Waste containing asbestos is hazardous waste, the transport and disposal of which are subject to legal requirements.

Italy

Italy is responsible for 11% of asbestos consumption in the EU. The asbestos ban was introduced in 1992 (Marsili et al., 2017). The greatest amount of asbestos was used to produce asbestos-cement construction materials, followed by fire resistance and thermal insulation in the shipbuilding industry and railway carriages (Oddone et al., 2021). Estimates of the amount of asbestos-containing products indicate that about 30–40 million tons of asbestos-containing products (Silvestri, 2012). About 1% of the total amount of asbestos-containing products is removed annually, which means that in 2017, about 75% of their total amount was in use (Marsili et al., 2017). Research is being undertaken on the identification of asbestos-cement roofs (Bassani et al., 2007; Fiumi et al., 2012; Frassy et al., 2014), which would enable the estimation of their number, however, they concern small areas, most often located in the vicinity of plants that produced asbestos-containing products. Actions taken concerning the use of asbestos-containing products mainly concern public policy in the field of asbestos substitutes, the national mesothelioma surveillance system, health monitoring of persons exposed to asbestos and workers exposed to asbestos, mainly in reclamation works, asbestos removal, and waste disposal, as well as epidemiological studies on asbestos. Asbestos-related activities are monitored by local authorities and National Health Service local centers. Users of asbestos-containing products and asbestos removal operators should report annually on quantities, indicating whether all asbestos-containing products have been removed (Silvestri, 2012). There is no available data on the number of asbestos-cement products in use and their spatial distribution, as well as the date of cessation of their use. Research is being undertaken to identify asbestos-cement roofs using remote sensing data to estimate the amount of the products in use (Fiumi et al., 2012; Frassy et al., 2014). Until 1982, the Balangero asbestos mine operated in the Western Alps where in the 1950s and 1960s, asbestos fibers production reached a peak of more than 150 thousand tons yearly (Silvestri et al., 2020). The law classifies all asbestos-containing waste as hazardous waste.

Spain

According to USGS statistics, Spain accounted for roughly 8 % of the European Union’s cumulative asbestos consumption, and national data indicate that about 2.6 million tons of raw asbestos were used in domestic production between 1900 and 2000 (Pitarque et al., 2008). Most of the imported asbestos was used for manufacturing asbestos-cement products for the construction industry, insulation, and textiles for ships and automobiles. There is a lack of estimations of the total quantity of asbestos-containing products manufactured (López-Abente et al., 2013). The main activities undertaken in the field of the use of asbestos-containing products include, among others: training in the identification of materials and management of asbestos-containing products, legal aspects of the registration of companies at risk of asbestos (RERA), accreditation of laboratories in the field of fiber concentration analysis, health programs for employees exposed to asbestos (García Lopez, 2021). In Andalusia, an emergency plan for 2016–2022 was approved, consisting of planning activities to identify public school buildings with asbestos-containing materials and assess the condition of these materials. All buildings, whether owned by the municipality or owned by the Autonomous Community, were included, intended for kindergartens, primary and primary schools, secondary education institutes, special education centers as well as official language schools and arts education centers, and school residences, in the management area of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia (Boletín, 2016). Asbestos-containing waste is stored in hazardous waste landfills.

Poland

In 1997, Poland introduced a statutory ban on the production, use, and economic circulation of asbestos-containing products (Act, 1997). The use of asbestos-containing products in a way that does not pose a threat to the environment and human health was allowed in Poland until December 31, 2032. To quantify the remaining stock, a mandatory physical inventory was established in 2010 (Regulation, 2010), and all data are entered into the electronic Asbestos Database (Regulation, 2012). The first national asbestos removal program for Poland was developed in 2002 because of the Resolution of the Parliament of June 19, 1997, on the withdrawal of asbestos from the economy. In 2009, the Council of Ministers adopted an updated National Asbestos Removal Program, extending its mandate through 2032. The purpose of the national program is the removal and neutralization of asbestos-containing products, minimizing the negative health effects caused by contact with asbestos fibers, and eliminating the harmful effects of asbestos on the environment. The Program envisages the implementation of the following tasks: legislative, educational, and information, asbestos-containing products removal, monitoring with the use of the Electronic Spatial Information System, and activities related to exposure assessment and health protection. Securing sufficient financial resources was recognized as indispensable. The program underscored the necessity of securing sufficient financial resources and outlined avenues for mobilizing co-financing from central and local government budgets, competitive grants, and tax-credit incentives to support safe asbestos-cement roof abatement. Estimates of the amount of asbestos-cement roofs in the national program indicate the use of approx. About 14.5 million tons of these products (Program, 2009). Annually, the government administers the “Asbestos” program, which allocates financial support to communes for conducting systematic inventories and thus ensures maximal completeness of the Asbestos Database. Through a competition, local government units are selected according to each time specified criteria for which support may be granted. Under this scheme, communes benefit from co-financing for preparing or updating their asbestos inventories, thereby reducing local financial barriers and encouraging comprehensive data collection. Following inventory efforts, the Ministry of Climate initiated ongoing e-learning modules and regional workshops for labor and sanitary inspectors, construction supervisors, and local government officials, thereby strengthening institutional capacity and ensuring that each subsequent phase of asbestos abatement is underpinned by up-to-date technical expertise and clear legal guidance. Asbestos-containing waste, generated in the process of removing the products, has been classified in the catalog of hazardous waste and is subject to the process of abatement by storing it in an unconverted form and placing it in the ground depressions. Waste resulting from the removal of asbestos-cement roofs is taken to landfills authorized for the storage of asbestos-containing hazardous waste (Regulation, 2020).

Belgium and Luxembourg

Slightly more than 6% of the total consumption of asbestos in production in the EU countries is related to Belgium and Luxembourg.¹ Asbestos use was banned in 2001. Most imported fibers were used in the production of asbestos-cement products (Van der Borre and Deboosere, 2016). There are no estimations on the amount of asbestos-containing products in use due to the little transparency in asbestos products manufacturing in Belgium. Mainly asbestos-cement products were produced, that is, corrugated sheets, roof slates, and pipes, but also asbestos cement counter tops and decorative ornaments were produced (Van Den Borre and Deboosere, 2014). Twenty-two manufacturing sites were identified in 16 Belgian municipalities (Van der Borre and Deboosere, 2016). Asbestos-containing waste is stored in hazardous waste landfills.

Key policy features matrix

To synthesize and compare the principal policy instruments and data infrastructures across the six highest-consuming Member States, we constructed a qualitative feature matrix (Table 1). Specifically, we assessed each country along six key dimensions: year of national asbestos ban enactment (C1), availability of post-ban, quantitative estimates for legacy asbestos-cement products (C2), presence of a formal removal or abatement program (C3), existence of a centralized registry or GIS mapping of AC roofs (C4), provision of dedicated public funding schemes (C5), and implementation of health and safety surveillance and education measures (C6). Each cell indicates whether a given policy element is fully implemented (“+”), partially present or only at sub-national level (“±”), or absent (“–”). This format provides a concise overview of where robust frameworks exist and where gaps remain.

Table 1.

Key policy features in high-consumption EU member states^a,b.

Country	C1	C2	C3	C4	C5	C6
Belgium & Luxembourg	2001 +	–	–	–	–	–
France	1997 +	+	–	–	–	+
Germany	1993 +	+	±	–	–	±
Italy	1992 +	±	±	–	–	+
Poland	1997 +	+	+	+	+	+
Spain	2002 +	–	±	–	–	±

Methodological Note: No harmonized EU database for asbestos-cement roofing exists, so a strictly quantitative ranking could imply unwarranted precision. Instead, we apply six diagnostic criteria, each coded “+” (fully met), “±” (partially met), or “–” (unmet), to synthesize verifiable data from official documents and peer reviewed studies. This “traffic-light” matrix ensures clarity about policy readiness, highlighting where instruments are robust (e.g. Poland, Germany) and where foundational capacities (inventories, funding) remain lacking (e.g. Belgium & Luxembourg, Spain).

Limitations: Data availability and reliability vary markedly across the six Member States analyzed. Poland and, to a lesser extent, Germany and France possess national-scale inventories or comprehensive ministerial reports, whereas information for Belgium & Luxembourg and Spain is limited to partial governmental statements or sub-national studies. These asymmetries affect especially dimensions C2-C4 (legacy stock estimates, removal programs, central registries). To avoid a false sense of numerical precision, we therefore employ a qualitative “traffic-light” coding rather than quantitative scores. Nevertheless, direct comparisons should be interpreted with caution until harmonized EU-wide reporting protocols and inventories are established.

Overall, our feature matrix underscores substantial variation in the comprehensiveness and operational maturity of asbestos-cement roof removal policies among the EU’s highest consuming Member States. Poland stands out with full implementation across all six dimensions, reflecting a tightly coordinated strategy from ban enactment through to funding and health and safety measures. France, by contrast, has robust legacy stock data and health surveillance but lacks the programmatic and financial infrastructures needed for large-scale removal. Germany’s early ban and detailed stock estimates are not yet matched by dedicated funding or complete registry coverage, while Italy exhibits nascent efforts across several dimensions but remains hampered by gaps in data and financing. Spain’s engagement is moderate, with a formal ban but limited operational follow through, and Belgium & Luxembourg show minimal implementation beyond legal prohibition.

While one could assign numerical weights or simply tally the number of “+” entries to derive an overall implementation score, our qualitative summary, emphasizing specific strengths and weaknesses, more directly illuminates where policy attention and resources must be focused. This narrative approach ensures that the nuanced nature of each policy element is preserved, guiding targeted interventions to accelerate asbestos-cement roof removal in support of the EU’s 2050 climate-neutrality objectives.

Toward best available practices?

Poland’s transformation from one of the EU’s largest asbestos consumers to a model of systematic roof decontamination did not hinge on a single policy, but on a sequence of mutually reinforcing steps. A clear political mandate, first enshrined in the 1997 ban and detailed through subsequent executive regulations, set the legislative groundwork, which was then operationalized by the 2002 and 2009 National Asbestos Removal Programs. These programs paired co-financing arrangements for communes with homeowner incentives, while the launch of the GeoAzbest registry established a unified data platform for tracking asbestos-cement roofs. To translate policy into practice, the Ministry supplemented financial support with extensive e-learning and regional workshops, ensuring that local officials and inspectors possessed the expertise to manage safe abatement.

Quantity estimation for the removal of asbestos-cement roofs in the EU is carried out in Poland. GeoAzbest is an Electronic Spatial Information System for monitoring the process of removing asbestos and asbestos-containing products. The system enables the collection and processing of information at different levels of administrative division as well as performing comparative analyses of information in a selected period, in the indicated area, and concerning selected types of products (Krówczyńska et al., 2014). In total, in the Asbestos Database, there are data collected from 2459 communes (99% of communes in Poland), which indicates the use of 7.7 million tons of asbestos-containing products (Wilk et al., 2019). The greatest number of products is still used in the following provinces: Mazowieckie and Lubelskie, and the least in Lubuskie, Opolskie, Dolnośląskie, and Zachodniopomorskie (Figure 4).

Figure 4.

The amount of asbestos-containing products remaining for disposal at the Asbestos Database.

In Poland, based on the field inventories taken, local governments develop communal asbestos removal programs. The purpose of the development of these programs is to plan safety for the health of residents and the natural environment removal of asbestos-containing products from communes by the end of 2032. 72% of communes in Poland have developed asbestos removal programs, however, it is not a legal obligation, but rather a policy and good practice to be adopted based on field inventory taking.

All plants producing asbestos-containing products have been inventoried in Poland and detailed queries have been developed for them (Wilk et al., 2014). Ten of them manufactured asbestos-cement products, that is, over 80% of all asbestos-containing materials (Figure 5).

Figure 5.

Asbestos-cement manufacturing plants in Poland.

There are 31 asbestos-accessible landfills in Poland, and 3 are company-owned (Figure 6). The total capacity of landfills is 3.8 million m³, of which the free capacity for the storage of asbestos-containing waste (construction and building materials) is 2.8 million m³, that is, approximately 3.3 million tons of waste. Currently, the free capacity of landfills is sufficient to receive approx. 46% of the asbestos-containing products remaining for disposal have been entered into the Asbestos Database (2023).

Figure 6.

Asbestos-containing waste landfills in Poland.

Estimates derived from the Asbestos Database contain data on 8.5 million tons of these products. Because of the discrepancies between different sources, other methods are sought that will be used to estimate the scale of use of asbestos-cement roofs in Poland. Based on the research, it was estimated that in Poland there are still 710.3 million m² of asbestos-cement roofs in use, which gives 10.6 million tons² (Wilk et al., 2019). The largest number of asbestos-cement products, that is, 18% of the total estimated quantity, is in Mazowieckie province, followed by Lubelskie (12%), and then Łódzkie and Wielkopolskie (each with a 9% share). In the Małopolskie, Podlaskie, Świętokrzyskie, Podkarpackie, and Śląskie provinces, the share of the estimated amount of asbestos-cement products used ranges from 6% to 7%. Five percentage share is Kujawsko-Pomorskie, and 2%–3%—Dolnośląskie, Pomorskie, Warmińsko-Mazurskie, Zachodniopomorskie and Opolskie. Lubuskie has the lowest share, below 1% (Figure 7).

Figure 7.

The amount of asbestos-cement roofs in communes in Poland.

The Polish model rests on a tightly interwoven set of legal, financial, and institutional measures that can serve as a blueprint for other Member States. First, a clear statutory framework, initiated by the 1997 asbestos ban and reinforced through subsequent executive regulations, defined precise removal targets, mandated comprehensive inventories, and established protocols for hazardous waste transport. Building on this foundation, two successive National Asbestos Removal Programs (2002 and 2009) introduced co-financing for local authorities, performance linked grants for communes, thereby aligning public health objectives with market engagement. At the same time, the creation of the GeoAzbest GIS registry ensured complete, spatially referenced data on asbestos-cement roofs, while Ministry-sponsored e-learning and regional workshops trained thousands of officials in safe abatement techniques. By calibrating these pillars - legal mandates, targeted financing, and capacity building - to their own administrative structures and fiscal realities, other EU countries (and regions still reliant on asbestos) can replicate this integrated approach to develop effective, context-sensitive roof removal strategies.

Conclusions

Determining the appropriate directions of health and environmental policy concerning asbestos requires taking the necessary steps to stop the use of asbestos-containing products. The use of asbestos has been banned in the European Union since 2005. Political decisions to ban asbestos at the regional level should be related to health, environmental, industrial, and occupational policies (Marsili et al., 2017). In most European countries, the asbestos ban has not been followed by the policies concerning the removal of asbestos-containing products, and no estimation of the quantity that should be removed was done. It is emphasized that prohibiting the use of asbestos is not enough to achieve effective prevention of asbestos exposure. Twenty years after the Italian ban on asbestos, the residual presence of asbestos-containing materials is estimated at 80% of the amount in 1992, and most of the asbestos-containing waste is transported by road outside Italy, mainly to Germany (Silvestri et al., 2020).

The preparation of appropriate policies and action plans requires the determination of the scale of asbestos-cement roofs in use. Given the lack of domestic production, import data is the best indicator of asbestos consumption in many countries, including Spain (López-Abente et al., 2013). The scale of asbestos use in the country’s economy is most often determined based on the asbestos consumption index in production per population, with the use of USGS data (Virta, 2006).

The scarcity of data on the actual amount of products used and the places of their use, for example, concerning the administrative division of a given country, makes it difficult to conduct a coherent policy of removing asbestos-cement roofs. These policies should include the process of removal, transport, and disposal as, an estimation of the costs of the entire process. Removal of asbestos from roofs will also have a significant social dimension in terms of eliminating the factor of asbestos-related diseases. Removal of asbestos-cement roofs will force the modernization of the building. The result of the thermal modernization of buildings will be a reduction in the amount of fuels used in heat sources, which in turn will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Polish pathway may be used by other EU countries to estimate the asbestos-cement roofing in use to develop the removal plans. To determine the amount of asbestos-cement roofs in the whole country, field inventory results were needed in individual communes (local administrative units). Directive (2007) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) imposes an obligation on European Union member states to collect and share their spatial data in the form of network services, for example, data browsing or data downloading services. Thus, available orthophotomaps could be used for the remote identification of asbestos-cement roofs with the use of convolutional neural network models developed (Krówczyńska et al., 2020; Krówczyńska and Wilk, 2024; Raczko et al., 2022). Recent self-supervised learning frameworks, such as SimCLR with EfficientNet-CBAM (Mutreja and Bittner, 2025) and masked-image-modeled Vision Transformers (Wang and Tien, 2023), together with MIS + GPR multi-sensor fusion (Khan et al., 2024), should be systematically evaluated for asbestos-cement roof detection because the headline accuracies (above 95%) were achieved on benchmark datasets whose class structures and texture patterns do not explicitly isolate corrugated asbestos-cement coverings. Transparent benchmarking on rigorously annotated imagery that distinguishes these roofs, complemented by comparisons with conventional field surveys, is therefore indispensable. If such validation confirms their efficacy, these frameworks could deliver, EU-wide inventories needed to accelerate safe removal programs and catalyze progress toward the Renovation Wave’s climate neutrality goals.

Having data on the quantity in specific administrative units, it will be possible to estimate the quantity on a national scale using the methods developed so far (Wilk et al., 2019). Data on the social and economic situation of EU countries are collected by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Eurostat produces European statistics in partnership with National Statistical Institutes and other national authorities in the EU Member States. The data obtained from these resources can make a significant contribution to the development of models for individual countries with the indication of significant variables, as was done for Poland (Wilk et al., 2015). Other variables that were indicated as significant concerned, inter alia, location, and production in asbestos processing plants. Research is carried out to collect data that may constitute potential variables important in the modeling process of estimating the amount of asbestos-cement roofs. In Belgium 22 manufacturing sites were identified in 16 Belgian municipalities (Van Den Borre and Deboosere, 2014). Therefore, for each country, a test of the significance of the variables should be performed that would result in obtaining a list of variables influencing the development of buildings in the cultural landscape of the countries.

At the later stage, this will enable the identification of significant variables in the process of modeling the number of used asbestos-cement roofs in the representative number of administrative units (e.g. 5%) of the UE countries. Significant variables can be defined as in the study of Wilk et al. (2019) based on available social-economic data. Eurostat data will be used for this purpose. Significant variables would be selected from the catalog of available variables based on previous surveys, taking into consideration the local conditions.

The recognition of asbestos-cement roofs for selected communes in each country could be an explained variable in the random forest model for the whole country (Wilk et al., 2019). Having data on the amount of asbestos-cement roofs in use throughout the country and information on their spatial distribution, it will be possible to develop a national asbestos removal policy. Preparation of asbestos removal policies with the indication of the number of buildings and areas of asbestos-cement roofs to be removed might be the direction of the environmental policy in the scope of cleaning the environment from hazardous materials (García López, 2021). The quantification and mapping of the spatial distribution of asbestos-cement roofs may be a turning point in the estimation of the risk scale, in environmental asbestos exposure leading to diseases for humans (Krówczyńska and Wilk, 2019; Wilk and Krówczyńska, 2021) and the disordered relationship between individual elements of the natural environment leading to anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide. Even if the globalization wave shifted environmental burdens geographically (Brolin and Kander, 2022), drawing on experience and methods developed may be beneficial in other countries in eliminating the risk of asbestos pollution of the environment.

The necessity to remove asbestos-cement roofs in EU policies should be combined with deep modernization of buildings, including replacing the heat sources used with energy-efficient and low-emission ones. In this way, the use of EU cohesion policy funds can reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the housing sector. This will be in line with the provisions of the European Climate Pact. It will strengthen the spending of public funds, contributing to the elimination of carcinogenic asbestos, and at the same time make it impossible to carry out work with asbestos, causing the emission of fibers into the environment (Figure 8) or co-financing the thermal modernization of buildings without the imperative of replacing roofs with asbestos-free ones (Figure 9).

Figure 8.

Asbestos-cement roof with renewable energy installation.

Figure 9.

Renovated building with an asbestos-cement roof.

National registry data show that approximately 570,000 heated dwellings in Poland are still covered with asbestos-cement sheets (Asbestos Database, 2023). Analyses indicate that reducing the roof’s thermal transmittance (U-value), where a lower U-value signifies better insulation and reduced heat loss, from 0.21 to 0.15 W m^-² K can cut annual space-heating demand by about 1.4 MWh per dwelling (Jezierski et al., 2020). Using the IPCC (2006) conversion factors, if a dwelling is heated with natural gas the resulting saving avoids around 0.29 tons of CO₂ per dwelling per year, whereas the same energy reduction in a coal-fired boiler would avert about 0.48 tons. Assuming a 50–50 mix of gas- and coal-heated homes, the average reduction amounts to roughly 0.39 tons of CO₂ per dwelling each year. Scaled to the entire stock, complete roof replacement would save about 0.8 TWh of energy annually and prevent around 170,000 tons of CO₂ per year if all homes use gas, 270,000 tons if all use coal, or approximately 220,000 tons under the mixed scenario. At the current replacement pace of 5%–10% of these roofs each, the immediate benefit already reaches 0.04–0.08 TWh of energy and roughly 11–22,000 tons of CO₂ per year for the mixed fuel split and will grow cumulatively as the program expands. These estimates consider roof replacement alone; additional deep retrofitting measures that typically accompany such works, such as external wall insulation, high-performance windows or the installation of heat-pump systems, would yield further energy and greenhouse gas savings and thereby strengthen the contribution of asbestos-cement roof removal to the decarbonization objectives of Poland and the European Union.

The European Climate Pact aligns with the initiative to enhance the environmental sustainability of the built-up environment by promoting the construction of new buildings with improved energy efficiency and renovating existing structures. This approach acknowledges the prolonged lifespan of existing buildings and underscores the importance of maximizing their energy performance. The Renovation Wave, spearheaded by the European Commission, serves as a crucial component of this effort, aiming to double the rate of renovations by 2030. By doing so, the Pact contributes to advancing energy and resource efficiency across the European Union.

Combining the need to stop using asbestos-cement roofs as the best method of eliminating the risk of asbestos-related diseases with the possibility of using the potential of the Renovation Wave should bring positive results in achieving the European Green Deal goals. During the era of the Anthropocene appropriate human behavior at all scales is required (Crutzen, 2002). Therefore, the development of national asbestos removal policies given the potential modernization of buildings in line with the European Green Deal may constitute an important contribution to the reduction of anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide, thereby contributing to taking actions to support climate neutrality. Survey results show that the elimination of solid fuel use in single-family houses and the implementation of renewable energy sources would enable the most cost-effective way of heating to be implemented (Księżopolski et al., 2020). Most buildings in the European Union are over 50 years old. In the second half of the 20th century, the housing resources in almost all Member States more than doubled and asbestos was widely used. Buildings represent one of the important sectors for final energy demand in Europe.

Given that the EU has committed to be climate-neutral by 2050 having an economy with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions implementing the European Green in line with the Paris Agreement, a strategic long-term vision should be adopted. Using information about asbestos-cement roofs and the need to replace them with new ones, it would be possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by using energy-saving solutions and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. This means that the modernization of buildings has the potential to improve their energy performance while also providing opportunities to remove asbestos from them. That might address the effective management measures to mitigate the adverse asbestos environmental exposure, and at the same time contribute to the implementation of the provisions of the European Green Deal to raise awareness about the multiple benefits of building renovation.

Footnotes

ORCID iDs

Ewa Wilk

Małgorzata Krówczyńska

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes

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The climate crisis and EU in the Anthropocene: May European Green Deal affect asbestos removal?

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Raw asbestos consumption in the EU until the introduced ban

EU countries with the highest raw asbestos consumption in production and the potential scale of the problem with the removal of asbestos-cement roofs for the process of green modernization of buildings

Germany

France

Italy

Spain

Poland

Belgium and Luxembourg

Key policy features matrix

Toward best available practices?

Conclusions

Footnotes

ORCID iDs

Funding

Declaration of conflicting interests

Notes

References