Sustainable use of plant protection products

Plant protection products can be dangerous to health and the environment if misused. To reduce the use of plant protection products, the European Commission has set up a framework directive that obliges EU Member States to reduce the risks to health and the environment from the use of plant protection products. To monitor the sustainable use and risks of plant protection products, the European Commission has developed a risk indicator (HRI 1) based on weighted sales volumes of plant protection products.

In Finland, the use of plant protection products is very moderate. As the Commission's risk indicator is based on sales volumes, the most sold plant protection product in Finland, urea for conifer root rot, dominates the result. However, Tukes does not consider the use of urea to pose a significant risk to health or the environment due to its relatively harmless properties. 

This indicator measures the weighted sales volume of plant protection products. Plant protection products are classified into four different groups, which are used to determine the weighting factor used for the measurement. The indicator is calculated by multiplying the sales volumes by the weighting factors.

The indicator is a common CAP plan impact indicator I.18 as set out in regulation (EU) 2021/2115 (eur-lex.europa.eu) (eur-lex.europa.eu), Annex I. It is used in all Member States.

The indicator will next be updated in autumn 2025.

Updated 9.1.2025.