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A new National Emissions reduction Commitments (NEC) Directive (2016/2284/EU) entered into force on 31 December 2016. Replacing earlier legislation, (Directive 2001/81/EC), the new NEC Directive sets 2020 and 2030 emission reduction commitments for five main air pollutants.
The directive transposes the reduction commitments for 2020 agreed by the EU and its Member States under the 2012 revised Gothenburg Protocol under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP Convention). The more ambitious reduction commitments agreed for 2030 are designed to reduce the health impacts of air pollution by half compared with 2005.
Further, the Directive requires that the Member States draw up National Air Pollution Control Programmes that should contribute to the successful implementation of air quality plans established under the EU’s Air Quality Directive.
The NEC Directive highlights the importance of Member States regularly reporting air pollutant emission inventories for assessing progress in reducing air pollution in the EU and for ascertaining whether Member States are in compliance with their commitments.
The directive introduces a number of new reporting requirements for Member States. These are defined in Annex I of the directive and include annual information on emissions of a number of pollutants:
To help ensure that information on emissions reported by Member States is consistent and harmonised with international requirements, the NEC Directive requires Member States to follow the methodologies agreed upon by the UNECE LRTAP Convention. It also requires that Member States use the EMEP/EEA air pollutant emission inventory guidebook in preparing their inventories.
EU Member States [1] were required to report a national air pollution control programme (NAPCP) by 1 April 2019. This included policies and measures (PaMs) that Member States selected as relevant for fulfilling their commitments to reduce emissions set for the periods 2020-2029 and from 2030 onwards. Actions taken to reduce emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases often address the same economic sectors but are reported separately under different EU legislation. A recent briefing presents an overview of the latest policies and measures reported by Member States to tackle air pollution, as required under the National Emission reduction Commitments (NEC) Directive. It includes an analysis of synergies with the policies reported under the Regulation on a mechanism for monitoring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions (Monitoring Mechanism Regulation), highlighting the importance of coherence between these domains.
Access the complete data set reported by Member States in the EEA’s online data viewer on policies and measures.
Policies and measures reported under the Monitoring Mechanism Regulation are accessible in this EEA data viewer
The NEC Directive establishes a number of flexibilities (Article 5) that Member States may request are applied for the purposes of assessing compliance with their emission reduction commitments.
This includes an ‘adjustment’ process, in which Member States may ‘adjust’ downwards their emission inventories if non-compliance with the national ceilings is caused by countries having applied improved emission inventory methods in accordance with updated scientific knowledge since the time the 2010 ceilings were originally set. Member States wishing to adjust their data in this way must first notify the European Commission (EC) by 15 February each year, and subsequently submit a range of documentation (by 15 March each year) for review and decision by the European Commission.
Each year, EEA supported by its European Topic Centre compiles and checks the data reported by Member States under the NEC Directive.
In addition:
This briefing describes progress made by the EU and its Member States towards reducing emissions of the five main air pollutants regulated under the National Emission reduction Commitments Directive. It assesses Member State performance against emission reduction commitments for 2020-2029, as well as progress towards meeting more ambitious reduction commitments that will apply from 2030 onwards. It also highlights trends for a broader range of air pollutants and their sources in Europe. The briefing is based on the latest data reported by Member States in 2024 for their 2022 emissions.
This briefing describes the progress made by the EU and its Member States towards reducing emissions of the five main air pollutants regulated under the National Emission reduction Commitments Directive. It presents an assessment of Member State performance against the emission reduction commitments for 2020-2029 as well as their progress towards achieving the more ambitious reduction commitments that will apply from 2030 onward. The briefing also presents the trends for a broader range of air pollutants and the sources of their emissions in Europe. The briefing is based on the latest available data reported by Member States in 2023 for their 2021 emissions.
This briefing describes the progress made by the EU and its 27 Member States towards reducing emissions of the five main air pollutants regulated under the National Emission reduction Commitments Directive. It presents the first assessment of Member State performance against the emission reduction commitments for the period 2020-2029 and their progress towards achieving the more ambitious targets that will apply from 2030. This briefing is based on 2020 data, the latest year for which data have been reported to the EEA.
This chapter reviews the status of emissions of key air pollutants regulated in the European Union (EU) and assesses emissions trends over the period 2005 to 2019. The main economic sectors that contributed to total emissions in 2019 are identified for key pollutants, while reductions in emissions over the period 2005 to 2019 are set against developments in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It also includes an assessment of the relationship between emissions of key air pollutants and their concentrations in ambient air.
This briefing presents progress made by the EU and its Member States1 towards meeting the 2010 emission ceilings that were applicable until the end of 2019 under Directive 2016/2284/EU — the National Emission reduction Commitments (NEC) Directive — on the reduction of national emissions of certain atmospheric pollutants. In addition, it assesses the emission reduction effort — compared with 2018 emissions levels — required by each country to comply with the 2020 and 2030 reduction commitments set out in the Directive.
This briefing presents progress made by the European Union (EU) and its Member States in meeting the 2010 emission ceilings that remain applicable until the end of 2019 under the Directive (EU) 2016/2284 on the reduction of national emissions of certain atmospheric pollutants (the National Emission Ceilings (NEC) Directive). In addition, it provides an assessment of the projected emissions reported by Member States for 2020 and 2030, in relation to the 2020 and 2030 reduction commitments for each country set in the Directive.
Air pollution is the single largest environmental health risk in Europe, and can cause respiratory problems and shorten lifespans. It also contributes to the acidification of soil and surface water, causes eutrophication in sensitive habitats and can damage vegetation through exposure to ozone (EEA, 2016).
As of 2010, all European Union Member States are required to meet their emission ceilings set for main air pollutants in Directive 2001/81/EC. The briefing presents preliminary data reported for 2014 and final data for 2010-2013.
For references, please go to https://eea.europa.eu./themes/air/air-pollution-sources-1/national-emission-ceilings/national-emission-reduction-commitments-directive or scan the QR code.
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