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Indicator Specification
In recent years scientific evidence has been strengthened by many epidemiological studies that indicate there is an association between long and short-term exposure to fine particulate matter and various serious health impacts. Fine particles have adverse effects on human health and can be responsible for and/or contribute to a number of respiratory problems. Fine particles in this context refer to primary particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) and emissions of secondary particulate matter precursors (NOX, SO2 and NH3). Primary PM2.5 and PM10 refers to fine particles (defined as having diameter of 2.5 µm or 10 µm or less, respectively) emitted directly to the atmosphere. Secondary particulate matter precursors are pollutants that are partly transformed into particles by photo-chemical reactions in the atmosphere. A large fraction of the urban population is exposed to levels of fine particulate matter in excess of limit values set for the protection of human health. There have been a number of recent policy initiatives that aim to control particulate concentrations and thus protect human health.
Detailed information on emissions of the secondary particulate matter precursors may also be found in the accompanying indicator fact-sheets for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and ammonia.
ktonnes (1000 tonnes)
There are no specific EU emission targets set for primary particulate matter, as with respect to PM emissions, measures are currently focused on controlling emissions of the secondary PM precursors. However, there are several Directives that affect the emissions of primary PM, including the 2008 Air Quality Directive and emission standards for specific mobile and stationary sources for primary PM10 and secondary precursor emissions.
Within the European Union, the National Emission Ceilings Directive (NEC Directive) imposes emission ceilings (or limits) for emissions of the particulate matter precursors pollutants nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and ammonia that harm human health and the environment (the NEC Directive also sets emissions ceilings for a fourth pollutant - non-methane volatile organic compounds).
Other key EU legislation is targeted at reducing emissions of air pollutants from specific sources, for example:
Internationally, the issue of air pollution emissions is also being addressed by the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (the LRTAP Convention) and its protocols. A key objective of the protocol is to regulate emissions on a regional basis within Europe and to protect eco-systems from transboundary pollution by setting emission reduction ceilings to be reached by 2010 for the same four pollutants as addressed in the NECD (i.e. SO2, NOX, NH3 and NMVOCs). Overall for the EU Member States, the ceilings set within the Gothenburg protocol are generally either slightly less strict or the same as the emission ceilings specified in the NECD.
There are presently no European national ceilings for emissions of particulate matter.
Emissions of the secondary PM precursors SO2, NOX and NH3 are covered by the EU National Emission Ceilings Directive (NECD) (2001/81/EC) and the Gothenburg protocol under the United Nations Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP Convention) (UNECE 1999). The NECD generally involves slightly stricter emission reduction targets than the Gothenburg Protocol for EU-15 Member States for 2010.
Table: 2010 Targets under the NEC Directive and the Gothenburg Protocol, in kt
2010 NECD ceilings |
2010 CLRTAP Gothenburg Protocol ceilings |
|||||
NOX |
SOX |
NH3 |
NOX |
SOX |
NH3 |
|
Austria | 103 | 39 | 66 | 107 | 39 | 66 |
Belgium | 176 | 99 | 74 | 181 | 106 | 74 |
Bulgaria | 247 | 836 | 108 | 266 | 856 | 108 |
Cyprus | 23 | 39 | 9 | |||
Czech Republic | 286 | 265 | 80 | 286 | 283 | 101 |
Denmark | 127 | 55 | 69 | 127 | 55 | 69 |
Estonia | 60 | 100 | 29 | |||
Finland | 170 | 110 | 31 | 170 | 116 | 31 |
France | 810 | 375 | 780 | 860 | 400 | 780 |
Germany | 1051 | 520 | 550 | 1081 | 550 | 550 |
Greece | 344 | 523 | 73 | 344 | 546 | 73 |
Hungary | 198 | 500 | 90 | 198 | 550 | 90 |
Iceland* | ||||||
Ireland | 65 | 42 | 116 | 65 | 42 | 116 |
Italy | 990 | 475 | 419 | 1000 | 500 | 419 |
Latvia | 61 | 101 | 44 | 84 | 107 | 44 |
Liechtenstein | 0.37 | 0.11 | 0.15 | |||
Lithuania | 110 | 145 | 84 | 110 | 145 | 84 |
Luxembourg | 11 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 4 | 7 |
Malta | 8 | 9 | 3 | |||
Netherlands | 260 | 50 | 128 | 266 | 50 | 128 |
Norway | 156 | 22 | 23 | |||
Poland | 879 | 1397 | 468 | 879 | 1397 | 468 |
Portugal | 250 | 160 | 90 | 260 | 170 | 108 |
Romania | 437 | 918 | 210 | 437 | 918 | 210 |
Slovakia | 130 | 110 | 39 | 130 | 110 | 39 |
Slovenia | 45 | 27 | 20 | 45 | 27 | 20 |
Spain | 847 | 746 | 353 | 847 | 774 | 353 |
Switzerland | 79 | 26 | 63 | |||
Sweden | 148 | 67 | 57 | 148 | 67 | 57 |
Turkey* | ||||||
United Kingdom | 1167 | 585 | 297 | 1181 | 625 | 297 |
* Iceland and Turkey do not have a ceiling under either the NEC Directive or the Gothenburg protocol.
This indicator is based on officially reported national total and sectoral emissions to EEA and UNECE/EMEP (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe/Co-operative programme for monitoring and evaluation of the long-range transmission of air pollutants in Europe) Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP Convention), submission 2011. For the EU-27 Member States, the data used is consistent with the emissions data reported by the EU in its annual submission to the LRTAP Convention.
Recommended methodologies for emission inventory estimation are compiled in the EMEP/EEA Air Pollutant Emission Inventory Guidebook, (EMEP/EEA, 2013). Base data are available from the EEA Data Service (http://dataservice.eea.europa.eu/dataservice/metadetails.asp?id=1096) and the EMEP web site (http://www.ceip.at/). Where necessary, gaps in reported data are filled by ETC/ACC using simple interpolation techniques (see below). The final gap-filled data used in this indicator are available from the EEA Data Service (http://dataservice.eea.europa.eu/PivotApp/pivot.aspx?pivotid=478).
Base data, reported in the UNECE/EMEP Nomenclature for Reporting (NFR) sector format are aggregated into the following EEA sector codes to obtain a consistent reporting format across all countries and pollutants:
The following table shows the conversion of Nomenclature for Reporting (NFR) sector codes used for reporting by countries into EEA sector codes:
EEA classification |
Non-GHGs (NFR) |
|
National totals |
National total |
|
Energy production and distribution |
1A1, 1A3e, 1B |
|
Energy use in industry |
1A2 |
|
Road transport |
1A3b |
|
Non-road transport (non-road mobile machinery) |
1A3 (exl 1A3b) |
|
Industrial processes |
2 |
|
Solvent and product use |
3 |
|
Agriculture |
4 |
|
Waste |
6 |
|
Commercial, institutional and households |
1A4ai, 1A4aii, 1A4bi, 1A4bii, 1A4ci, 1A4cii, 1A5a, 1A5b |
|
Other |
7 |
An improved gap-filling methodology was implemented in 2010 that enables a complete time series trend for the main air pollutants (eg NOX, SOX, NMVOC, NH3 and CO) to be compiled. In cases where countries did not report emissions for any year, it meant that gap-filling could not be applied. For these pollutants, therefore, the aggregated data are not yet complete and are likely to underestimate true emissions. Further methodological details of the gap-filling procedure are provided in section 1.4.2 Data gaps and gap-filling of the European Union emission inventory report 1990–2009 under the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP).
No methodology references available.
The use of gap-filling for when countries have not reported emissions for one of more years can potentially lead to artificial trends, but it is considered unavoidable if a comprehensive and comparable set of emissions data for European countries is required for policy analysis purposes.
Primary PM2.5 and PM10 data is of relatively higher uncertainty compared to emission estimates for the secondary PM precursors. The contribution of secondary particulate matter precursor emissions to PM formation varies considerably across different emission sources and geographical region (meteorology etc).
Overall scoring: (1-3, 1=no major problems, 3=major reservations)
This indicator is regularly updated by EEA and is used in state of the environment assessments. The uncertainties related to methodology and data sets are therefore of importance.
Work specified here requires to be completed within 1 year from now.
Work specified here will require more than 1 year (from now) to be completed.
For references, please go to https://eea.europa.eu./data-and-maps/indicators/emissions-of-primary-particles-and-5 or scan the QR code.
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