Risk, use and impacts of pesticides

Type of indicator	Environment
Indicator C48	Indicator I.27 Sustainable and reduced use of pesticides: Risk, use and impacts of pesticides
Definition	It consists of 3 specific indicators: Sales of pesticides The Harmonised Risk Indicator 1 Sales of the most hazardous pesticides (so called “candidates for substitution”) 1: Sales of pesticides is a proxy of pesticides use in agriculture. For this purpose, the indicator specifies sales of pesticides for each of the following categories: 'fungicides and bactericides', 'herbicides, haulm destructors and moss killers', 'insecticides and acaricides', 'molluscicides', 'plant growth regulators', and 'other plant protection products'. NB: Sales data currently available at EU level (Eurostat) covers both agricultural and non-agricultural activities. 2: The Harmonised Risk indicator 1 refers to the risk associated with pesticides and it is based on European Statistics on the placing on the market of pesticides. The indicator is available at EU and MS level. Sales data collected by Eurostat are categorised and weighted based on the regulatory status of the active substances under Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009. The resulting weights are aggregated according to the Commission Directive (EU) 2019/782 resulting in a harmonised, EU wide indicator. NB: All references to pesticides refer to plant protection products only. Biocides are included in the term pesticides, but data on biocides are not included in this indicator. 3: Sales of the most hazardous pesticides (so called “candidates for substitution”) Active substances with certain properties defined in Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 are considered as candidates for substitution. For plant protection products containing these active substances, Member States are required, when assessing an application for an authorisation, to evaluate if they can be replaced (substituted) by other adequate and less hazardous solutions (chemical or non-chemical).
Unit of measurement	1: kg 2: Index based on annual volumes of active substances placed on the market multiplied by the relevant weights = average for the period 2011-2013) 3: kg
Data source	Eurostat Methodology for categorisation and weighting is based on the definition in Annex IV to the Directive 2009/128/EC (adopted by the Commission in May 2019) Eurostat: not publically available yet due to confidentiality reasons, but currently being addressed with the revision of Reg. (EC) No 1185/2009 concerning statistics on pesticides to overcome this problem and ensure that data will be publically available.
References / location of the data	Eurostat – Statistics on the placing on the market (sales) of pesticides table [aei_fm_salpest09] metadata: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/aei_fm_salpest09_esms.htm] The HRI 1 indicator at EU level published here . The indicator at MS level is published by each MS here.
Data collection / dissemination level	EU, National (NUTS 0)
Frequency	Annual
Timeliness	2 years (at the latest 20 months after the end of the year for which the Harmonised Risk Indicator is being calculated)
Comments/caveats	The HRI1 indicator is based on the quantities of active substances sold in pesticides each year. Active substances are classified in 4 groups and 7 categories according to Annex IV to the Directive 2009/128/EC. A weighting is developed for each group: volume sold of active substances are multiplied for the respective weights in order to calculate a harmonised index which can be monitored over time. This indicator is also used for the EU reporting on UN Sustainable Development Goals. Lastly, Harmonised Risk Indicator 1 and the sales of the most hazardous pesticides (candidate for substitution) are both used as the measurement for the pesticide targets under the Farm to Fork strategy, i.e. overall reduction of use and risk from chemical pesticides by 50% by 2030, and reduction of the use of more hazardous pesticides by 50% by 2030. For both indicators, the baseline is 2015-2017.