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CORINAIR 1990 - Summary Report 2

Summary

Important source sub-sectors in Europe in 1990

The CORINAIR 90 source nomenclature (SNAP90) is divided hierarchically into three levels with 11 main sectors (level 1), 57 sub-sectors (level 2) and about 270 activities (level 3). The report focusses on the 57 sub-sectors. CORINAIR 90 identified 38 of the 57 source sub-sectors as important sources for the eight pollutants investigated. These top sub-sectors contributed to more than 90% of the emissions of each of the pollutants with the exception of NMVOC and CO₂.

The most important source sub-sectors in Europe in 1990 for the eight substances investigated were:

SO₂, CO₂	Public Power and Cogeneration Plants
NO_x, CO, NMVOC	Road Transport - Passenger Cars
CH₄	Agriculture - Animal Breeding (enteric fermentation)
NH₃	Agriculture - Animal Breeding (excretions)
N₂O	Agriculture - Cultures with Fertilizer (except animal manure)

All participating countries reported their emissions for these top source sub-sectors. However, the data are not as complete for a number of the less important source sub-sectors. Consequently, the ranking for these source sub-sectors cannot be regarded as certain since the emissions concerned might have been significantly underestimated for pollutants like CH₄, N₂O and NH₃.

A number of the pollutants investigated can be traced to the same top source sub-sectors. Commercial, Institutional and Residential Combustion Plants is for example included in the top ten source sub-sector for six pollutants (SO₂, CO₂, NO_x, CO, N₂O and NMVOC), Road Transport - Heavy Duty Vehicles for five pollutants (SO₂, CO₂, NO_x, CO and NMVOC).

Contribution of countries to European top ten source sub-sectors

In 1990 the countries making the largest contribution to the emissions of the top one source sub-sector were:

SO₂, CO₂	Public Power and Cogeneration Plants	United Kingdom
CO, NMVOC	Road Transport-Passenger Cars	United Kingdom
NO_x	Road Transport - Passenger Cars	Germany (former West)
CH₄	Agriculture - Animal Breeding (enteric fermentation)	France
NH₃	Agriculture - Animal Breeding (excretions)	France
N₂O	Agriculture - Cultures with Fertilizer (except animal manure) (except animal manure)	Poland

The countries mainly responsible for emissions from the other top ten source sub-sectors differ, first, with respect to the source sub-sector in question and, second, concerning the extent to which they contribute to the emission total.

There is clear evidence that emissions of certain top source sub-sectors are concentrated in distinct regions of Europe. Again the analysis could be improved in the future by filling the gaps already mentioned.

Comparison of per capita emissions of the top five source sub-sectors

This comparison shows that there are very large differences in per capita emissions (from one to three orders of magnitude). There is no single pollutant nor even a top source sub-sector which exhibits a similar per capita emission across the area studied (Europe). However usually the smaller the contribution of a source sub-sector to the European total, the smaller is the range recorded for per capita emission values.

It is beyond the scope of this report to analyse and interpret all of these differences or, for example, to examine whether they are due to differences in emission factors or differences in activities.

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