Environmentally harmful subsidies in Germany

For the German public, environmental protection is the most important problem in Germany after the labour market. People attach great importance to the quality of environmental assets - such as climate, water, soil or air. This is reflected by public and private expenditure on protection of the environment: in 2003 the state and industry spent a combined total of €34.1 billion on water conservation, waste management,  air quality control and noise abatement.