Assessing the Impact of Ammonia Emissions from Mink Farming in Denmark on Human Health and Critical Load Exceedance

In this study, the objective is to assess the impacts of NH3 emissions from mink farming on human health and nature, which are sensitive to atmospheric nitrogen deposition. The impact-pathway approach is applied to follow the emissions from source to impact on human health in Europe (including Denmark) and from source to critical nitrogen load exceedances for NH3-sensitive nature in Denmark. The Danish Eulerian Hemispheric Model (DEHM) is used for modelling the air pollution concentrations in Europe and nitrogen depositions on land and water surfaces in Denmark arising from NH3 emissions from mink farming in Denmark. The Economic Valuation of Air (EVA) pollution model system is applied for deriving the health effects and corresponding socio-economic costs in Denmark and Europe arising from the emissions from mink farming. On a local scale in Denmark, the deposition resulting from the NH3 emissions from mink farming is modelled using the results from the OML-DEP model at a high resolution to derive the critical nitrogen load exceedances for Danish nature areas sensitive to NH3. From the analysis of the impacts through human exposure to the air pollutants PM2.5, NO2, and O3, it is concluded that in total, ~60 premature deaths annually in Europe, including Denmark, can be attributed to the emissions of NH3 to the atmosphere from the mink farming sector in Denmark. This corresponds to annual socio-economic costs on the order of EUR 142 million. From the analysis of critical load exceedances, it is concluded that an exceedance of the critical load of nitrogen deposition of ~14,600 hectares (ha) of NH3-sensitive nature areas in Denmark can be attributed to NH3 emissions from mink farming. The cost for restoring nature areas of this size, damaged by eutrophication from excess nitrogen deposition, is estimated to be ~EUR 110 million. In 2020, the mink sector in Denmark was shut down in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. All mink were culled by order of the Danish Government, and now in 2025, the process of determining the level of financial compensation to the farmers is still ongoing. The socio-economic costs following the impacts on human health in Europe and nitrogen-sensitive nature in Denmark of NH3 emissions from the now non-existing mink sector can therefore be viewed as socio-economic benefits. In this study, these benefits are compared with the expected level of compensation from the Danish Government to the mink farmers, and the conclusion is that the compensation to the mink farmers breaks even with the benefits from reduced NH3 emissions over a timescale of ~20 years.