Emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants
Types of air emissions
Eurostat publishes data on the following types of air emissions:
- greenhouse gases, which cover 7 gases, including CO2, causing climate change. These gases are responsible for climate change, which in turn has a broad range of consequences for people, flora and fauna;
- air pollutants, which cover 7 substances harmful to human health and detrimental to the environment and biodiversity. Air pollution can cause a variety of adverse health outcomes for people, including the risk of respiratory infections, heart diseases, and lung cancer. Air pollution also has an impact on biodiversity and the condition of the environment.
Measurement perspectives on air emissions
Information on emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants can be presented from 3 complementary perspectives:
- emissions from production in the EU economy (accounts)
- emissions from the EU territory (inventories)
- emissions related to consumption in the EU (footprints)
Eurostat produces statistics according to perspectives 1 and 3 and publishes the territorial statistics (perspective 2) coming from the European Environmental Agency. While for perspectives 1 and 3 data are provided to Eurostat by the national statistical institutes, they have no or a minor role in the production of perspective 2.
Statistics from the production perspective present greenhouse gas and other air emissions, originating from the EU economy. This means that they are emitted by economic actors and households residing in the EU. They also include emissions from international transport operated by economic actors established in the EU. Eurostat produces annual and quarterly estimates for these statistics.
The European Environmental Agency produces territorial data and presents those environmental pressures that occur within the borders of the EU members. These data are collected on an annual basis.
These statistics present the emissions linked to final consumption of goods and services in the EU. This includes all emissions that occur throughout the production chain of a product that arrives in the EU for final consumption or investment – irrespective of the industry or country where the emission occured. This is particularly relevant for the EU as many goods and services that are used in the EU economy are imported. The EU also exports a large proportion of domestic production. For these statistics, Eurostat produces annual estimates.
Explanation of the 3 different information systems
The 3 perspectives mentioned above lead to different results, answer different questions and can be used for different purposes.
Perspective 1 (accounts) and 3 (footprints) show the environmental impact of the economy. In contrast to the country's territorial border (perspective 2), this includes the international transport of passengers and goods, global supply production chains, etc.
Emitters are broken down by the economic activity according to the classification NACE Rev. 2. This is relevant for example to analyse which sectors of the economy emit how much greenhouse gases.
Territorial data are used to follow the development of emissions in relation to climate actions of the European Union and of the members of the United Nations. These are the official data to measure emissions in each country. Countries control laws and regulations affecting emissions and can calculate national reduction targets in line with international agreements to fight climate change. For international reporting to the climate change convention, the guidelines have been developed by the UN panel on climate change (IPCC). Countries produce the so-called ‘greenhouse gas inventories’ on this basis.
Both greenhouse gases and air pollutants are reported in accordance with regulations and conventions at international level, to the UN, to Eurostat, and to the European Environment Agency.
Cooperation of the European institutions
To make the best use of each of the data sources, Eurostat, the Directorate-General for Climate Action of the European Commission and the European Environmental Agency (EEA) cooperate and develop common documents that describe the information systems. Eurostat publishes the data which are produced by the EEA. The two institutions jointly take part in conferences and other forums to inform on current efforts.
Information on other emissions datasets produced by the EU can also be found in the EEA briefing on complementary emission estimates produced by EU organisations.