Air emission inventory data in Europe: new perspectives

Within Europe, a significant resource of publicly available officially-reported air emissions data is available. This information ranges from national emission inventory data reported by the European Union Member States, through to emissions reported by operators of industrial point source facilities. This paper looks at the base of existing information with respect to officially-reported emissions data from countries, and describes several recent international initiatives which are designed to further improve the quality of the reported data and to modernise and simplify the collection, exchange and use of such data. Examples of such initiatives have included, for example, the introduction of an international inventory review process for national air emission inventories reported by countries, and the substantial revision of the EMEP/EEA Air Pollutant Emission Inventory Guidebook (the European reference document providing experts with guidance concerning inventory methodologies and emission factors). Finally, several illustrations of how reported emissions data are used in the international and European policy context to inform on air emission and air quality policy issues are presented. This includes examples showing how inventory data is used for tracking progress of national emission reduction commitments and the assessment of the effectiveness of sectoral policies in terms of their impacts on air quality at the European scale