Environment: Commission publishes first inventory of pollution from small or non-industrial sources
The European Commission today published online the first consolidated European inventory of pollution from small, scattered sources such as cars, airplanes, ships, household boilers and small farms. The inventory of EU-wide data on 'diffuse' pollution brings together for the first time information currently held in a range of different inventories. Until now detailed EU-wide emissions data have been compiled only for major industrial sources like factories and power stations. The inventory of diffuse pollution represents an important step towards the development of a future European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (European PRTR), which will allow more effective policymaking. The inventory confirms that emissions to air and water from diffuse sources account for a substantial share of overall pollution, in some cases exceeding releases from big industrial installations. The sectors with the highest emissions from diffuse sources are road transport, domestic heating and agriculture.
Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said: "This first inventory of pollution from small or non-industrial sources will contribute to protecting people's health and the environment. With this inventory we will now have a complete picture of the sources and total amounts of pollutants. This in turn will enable us to develop better targeted and thus more effective policies for fighting pollution."
Diffuse pollution
The relative contribution of pollution from diffuse sources to overall pollution in Europe is rising as European and national regulation reduces emissions from big industrial installations.
The new inventory covers emissions to air and water from diffuse sources in agriculture, road transport, shipping, aviation, railway, domestic heating, military activities, gas distribution, roofing and road paving with asphalt and solvent use. Most data is for 2003.
The inventory shows that road transport, domestic heating and agriculture are the sectors with the highest levels of pollution from diffuse sources. For most of the 25 pollutants covered by the inventory, these sectors produce more than 90% of the emissions from all diffuse sources combined.
For some pollutants, emissions from diffuse sources equal or even exceed total releases from major installations. For example, annual emissions of copper into the atmosphere from road transport totalled 260 tonnes (EU-25, 2001-2003), almost double the 136 tonnes released by major regulated installations (EU-25, 2004). The main source of copper releases into the atmosphere from road transport is copper-containing vehicle brakes.
European PRTR
The compilation of a first inventory of pollution from diffuse sources represents an important step towards the development of a European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (European PRTR).
Data on emissions to air and water from some 9,200 major industrial installations are already captured in the European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER), launched in 2004. The European PRTR,[1] due to be published for the first time in autumn 2009 on the basis of 2007 data, will replace EPER and will be more comprehensive, tracking emissions to air, water and land and the off-site transfers of waste and waste water from both major installations and diffuse sources. More than 91 substances from industrial installations in 65 different fields of activity and from diffuse sources will be covered.
The diffuse pollution inventory for 2003 is published on the EPER website at www.eper.ec.europa.eu, which also provides further information about the European PRTR.
Data sources
The data brought together in the new inventory of diffuse sources of pollution is extracted from a range of existing inventories. These include the inventories of air pollutant emissions under the National Emission Ceiling Directive as well as under the UN-ECE Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution, the inventories of greenhouse gas emissions under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and Member States' reports on the impact on water bodies of diffuse sources of pollution under the Water Framework Directive.
Much of this data is available through the web site of the European Environment Agency at http://www.eea.europa.eu/main_html (see "Data service").
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[1] The European PRTR is established by EU Regulation 166/2006 which entered into force in February 2006. It implements the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE) PRTR Protocol, signed by the EU in May 2003. Like EPER, it will be managed jointly by the European Commission and the European Environment Agency.