3. Non-Methane Volatile Organic Com

3. NON-METHANE VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS - NMVOC

3.1 NMVOC-emissions by countries

The 1990 annual total NMVOC-emissions for EUROPE were estimated to be 22 million tonnes. These emissions broken down by EU-12, EFTA-5 and PHARE-10 countries are shown in figure 3.1. The largest contributor were the EU-12 countries with 69%, second largest the PHARE-10 countries with 16%. The EFTA-5 countries contributed 11% and Germany (former East) and Malta 4%.

Figure 3.1: Contribution in % to the EUROPEAN total NMVOC-emissions

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Figure 3.2 shows the relative contribution of individual countries to the total of 20 million tonnes. In 1990 the largest contributing countries were France (13%), United Kingdom (12%), Germany (former West 11%) and Italy (12%); the smallest contributing countries were Malta (0.02%), Luxembourg (0.09%) and Slovenia (0.2%). These differences are due to different size of population, different per capita emissions (see also paragraph 3.3) and differences in emissions from natural sources.

Figure 3.2: Contribution in % of each country to the EUROPEAN total NMVOC-emissions

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3.2 NMVOC-emissions per group

One third of the NMVOC-emissions for EUROPE resulted from emissions of group 7 (road transport) and from group 8 (other mobile sources and machinery). Group 6 (solvent use) and group 11 (nature) each contributed about 20% and group 4 (production processes) and group 5 (extraction and distribution of fossil fuels) each contributed 6%. In contrast to other pollutants group 1 (public power, cogeneration and district heating), 2 (commercial, institutional and residential combustion) and 3 (industrial combustion) together produced little of the NMVOC-emissions with only 6%. The remaining 5% of the total emissions can be attributed almost exclusively to emissions of the groups 9 (waste treatment and disposal) and 10 (agriculture).

The split of the NMVOC-emissions into groups for EU-12, EFTA-5 and PHARE-10 countries is quite similar compared to the split for EUROPE with the exception of the larger contribution of group 2 (commercial, institutional and residential combustion) with 10% and of group 11 (nature) with 33% to the total NMVOC-emissions for the EFTA-5 countries (see figure 3.3).

The differences of contributions especially of source groups 2, 6, 7 and 11 to the total emissions are larger between countries than these groups (see also table 3.1). The relative contribution of the NMVOC-emissions of group 2 ranges from 20% (Czech Republic) to 0% (Finland, Greece, Malta, Luxembourg), of group 7 from 59% (Malta) to 10% (Romania), of group 6 (solvent use) from 47% (Switzerland) to 1% (Latvia), and of group 11 from 68% (Portugal) to 0% (Estonia, Hungary, Malta, Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland).

However it is evident from these differences in the relative contribution of sourcegroups to a countries total emission that strategies for reduction of NMVOC-emissions need individual solutions as well as common elements.

Figure 3.3: Contribution in % of source groups to the EUROPEAN NMVOC-emissions

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3.3 NMVOC-emissions per capita

Only anthropogenic emissions are expected to be related to population for these calculations. Therefore group 11 (nature) has been excluded.

For EUROPE the average NMVOC-emissions per capita were as 36 kg/capita. Compared to this number the per capita NMVOC-emissions were almost equal (+6%) for the EU-12 countries with 38 kg/capita, 39% larger for the EFTA-5 countries with 50 kg/capita and 31% smaller for the PHARE-10 countries with 25 kg/capita. This comparison is also shown in figure 3.4 and table 9.

Again the differences are much larger if individual countries are compared; the largest NMVOC-emissions per capita were estimated for Norway (64 kg/capita) and the next largest ones for Austria (55 kg/capita) and Sweden (53 kg/capita); the smallest per capita emissions for NMVOC were calculated for Malta (13 kg/capita), Hungary (14 kg/capita), Slovenia and Latvia (each 18 kg/capita) and Portugal (20 kg/capita). Figure 3.5 shows the countries ranked according their per capita emissions. The already mentioned special report for NMVOC will analyse these large differences in the per capita emissions for NMVOC; the smallest per capita emissions being a factor of 5 smaller compared to the largest number.

Figure 3.4: NMVOC-emissions per capita for EUROPE

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Figure 3.5: NMVOC-emissions per capita for individual countries

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3.4 NMVOC-emissions per km²

The emissions per km² have been calculated from the total emissions, the emissions of group 11 (nature) having been included in this case.

For EUROPE the average NMVOC-emissions per km² were estimated as 4 603 kg/km². Compared to this number the per km² NMVOC-emissions were 45% larger for the EU-12 countries with 6 676 kg/km², 30% smaller for the PHARE-10 countries with 3 221 kg/km² and 58% smaller for the EFTA-5 countries with 1 941 kg/km². This comparison is also shown in figure 3.6 and table 10.

Figure 3.6: NMVOC-emissions per km² for EUROPE

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Again the differences are much larger if individual countries are compared; the largest NMVOC-emissions per km² were for Belgium, Flemish region (16 871 kg/km²), Malta (14 101 kg/km²) and the next largest ones for the Netherlands (11 094 kg/km²) and the United Kingdom (10 986 kg/km²); the smallest emissions per km² for NMVOC were for Norway (833 kg/km²), Finland (1 353 kg/km²) and Latvia (1 549 kg/km²). Figure 3.7 shows the countries ranked according their NMVOC-emission per km². The differences in the emissions per km² between countries are much larger compared to the per capita emissions. The smallest number being 20 times smaller than the largest number.

Figure 3.7: NMVOC-emissions per km² for individual countries

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Table 3.1: Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compounds emissions per country and group