Air pollutant emissions — EEA datasets

The EEA maintains a number of datasets containing estimates of the amount of air pollutants emitted into the atmosphere from different anthropogenic (human-made) sources. Natural sources of emissions (which generally cannot be controlled by policy measures) are not usually included in the data reported by countries. The emissions data held by EEA are based on official data calculated and reported by countries. Other emission estimates are also available from scientific and research projects, see our external links for examples.

Air pollutant emissions data are expressed in mass units i.e. the amount (mass) of an air pollutant emitted by a particular source (or combination of sources). Information on air quality monitoring data (i.e. the measured concentrations of air pollutants once they have mixed and dispersed in the atmosphere — the air we breathe) can be found here: EEA's public air quality database. 

Links to datasets and where available the accompanying dataviewers (for easy online visualisation and querying of the datasets) are provided below.  

1. National emissions reported to the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP Convention)

This dataset contains the emissions data used in the European Union's annual submission to the UNECE LRTAP Convention. It is the recommended dataset for users wishing to explore trends in emissions of air pollutants or to compare data from different countries and/or sources.  The dataset is used by EEA for our indicators and in assessment reports.

The dataset is based on the official country reports provided to the LRTAP Convention and to EEA.  Where gaps exist in the LRTAP data due to non-reporting, in the first instance other officially-reported emissions data are used to fill these. A simple interpolation/extrapolation process is finally used to fill remaining gaps to provide a consistent set of data suitable for assessment purposes. 

Data are available for EEA member countries from 1990 onwards for the main air pollutants CO, NH₃, NMVOC, NO_X, PM₁₀, PM_2.5, and SO₂, and for certain heavy metals and POPs.

This is also the recommended dataset for users wishing to assess the progress being made by Parties to their commitments under the LRTAP Convention and its protocols e.g. comparison of reported national totals to the 2010 national ceilings (limits) specified in the LRTAP Convention's Gothenburg Protocol.

Download the dataset here - an online dataviewer is available here.

2. EU National Emission Ceilings (NEC) Directive Inventory

This dataset contains the emissions data and 2010 projections for NO_x, NMVOC, SO₂ and NH₃ reported by EU Member States under the European Union's NEC Directive.  Formally, Member States must each year report a) final emissions data for the previous year but one, b) preliminary emissions data for the previous year, and c) projected emissions for the year 2010. 

This is the recommended dataset for users wishing to assess the progress being made by Member States towards meeting their commitments under the NEC Directive e.g. by a comparison of reported national totals to the 2010 national ceilings (limits) specified in the Directive. 

Download the dataset here - an online dataviewer is available here.

3. European Industrial Emissions Portal

Data reported under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED, 2010/75/EU) and the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) has been integrated into the European Industrial Emissions Portal.

The portal covers over 60,000 industrial sites from 65 economic activities across Europe. It shows sites’ location and administrative data, waste transfers, as well as releases and transfers of regulated substances to air, water and land. Reported releases cover 91 pollutants including greenhouse gases, heavy metals, pesticides and dioxins. Data are available for the EU-27 Member States as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and the UK ^[1].

For large combustion plants (LCPs), there is more detailed data on energy input and air emissions from certain pollutants (2016-onwards), see the dedicated section below.

Waste incinerators and co-incinerators covered by chapter IV of the IED have to report their nominal and regulated incineration capacities.

On installations covered by the IED, the portal also has links to their environmental permits and public emission monitoring, when these are available online and have been reported to the EEA. There is also other information related to the application of best available techniques (BAT) to set up emission limit values and possible derogations in permits.

The Portal website is here. The latest dataset is available for separate download here. 

4. Data on Large Combustion Plants (LCPs)