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Nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions (APE 002) - Assessment published Dec 2012
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EEA-32 emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO X ) decreased by 42% between 1990 and 2010. In 2010, the most significant sources of NO X emissions were the 'Road transport' (41%), 'Energy production and distribution' (22%) and the 'Commercial, institutional and households' and 'Energy use in industry' (both 13%) sectors.
The largest reduction of emissions in absolute terms since 1990 has occurred in the road transport sector. These reductions have been achieved despite the general increase in activity within this sector since the early 1990s and have primarily been achieved as a result of fitting three-way catalysts to petrol fuelled vehicles. However, ambient urban concentrations of NO2 in EU-27 countries in recent years have not fallen by as much as reported emissions. From 2001 to 2010, NO2 annual mean concentrations at urban background sites fell by just 10.6% on average (CSI004 - Fig 5) during which time the reported NO X emissions for the EU-27 decreased by 24.9%. The disparity between trends in NO X emissions and ambient NO2 concentration is due in part to increased penetration of diesel vehicles, and the ‘real-world’ emission performance of modern diesel vehicles not showing the improvements that were indicated by the test cycle emission factors used for emission inventories. It is also due to the increased proportion of NO X emitted directly as NO2 from the exhaust of more modern diesel vehicles which use catalyst systems for controlling emissions of other pollutants. As a result of this difference, a number of member states' NO X emissions could be significantly higher than currently calculated.
In the electricity/energy production sector reductions have also occurred as a result of measures such as the introduction of combustion modification technologies (such as use of low NO X burners), implementation of flue-gas abatement techniques (e.g. NO X scrubbers and selective catalytic and non-catalytic reduction techniques, i.e. SCR and SNCR) and fuel-switching from coal to gas.
The National Emission Ceilings Directive (NECD) specifies NO X emission ceilings for Member States that must have been met by 2010. In general, the newer EU Member States have made substantially better progress towards meeting their respective NO X ceilings than the older Member States of the EU-15. Eleven of the twelve post-2004 Member States had reduced their 2010 emissions beyond what is required under the NECD [1] , with the remaining one reporting NO X emissions just 2% above the NECD target. In contrast, only four of the EU-15 Member States reported emissions for 2010 within their respective national ceilings. Of the three non-EU countries having emission ceilings set under the UNECE/CLRTAP Gothenburg protocol (Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), only Switzerland reported 2010 emissions below the level of their 2010 ceiling.
Environmental context: NO X contributes to acid deposition and eutrophication of soil and water. The subsequent impacts of acid deposition can be significant, including adverse effects on aquatic ecosystems in rivers and lakes and damage to forests, crops and other vegetation. Eutrophication can lead to severe reductions in water quality with subsequent impacts including decreased biodiversity, changes in species composition and dominance, and toxicity effects. NO2 is associated with adverse effects on human health, as at high concentrations it can cause inflammation of the airways and reduced lung function, increasing susceptibility to respiratory infection. It also contributes to the formation of secondary particulate aerosols and tropospheric ozone in the atmosphere, both of which are important air pollutants due to their adverse impacts on human health and other climate effects.
[1] Emissions data reported by EU member states under NECD is used for comparison with NECD ceilings, and data reported under CLRTAP is used for all other calculations unless otherwise stated.
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Nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions
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Percentage of ecosystems protected from impact of eutrophication
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Percentage of ecosystems protected from impact of eutrophication through atmospheric deposition of nitrogen
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Nitrogen input on agricultural land in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries
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How to read the graph: between 1995 and 2004, total nitrogen input on agricultural land in Germany decreased from about 5 to about 4 million tonnes
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Change in winter oxidized nitrogen concentrations in coastal and open waters of the North East Atlantic, Baltic, Mediterranean and North Seas
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The figure shows change in winter oxidized nitrogen concentrations in coastal and open waters of the North East Atlantic, Baltic, Mediterranean and North Seas, 1985–2008
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Trends in mean winter oxidised nitrogen concentrations in the Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Greater North Sea, Skagerrak and part of the Mediterranean in 1985-2005
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Numbers in parentheses indicate number of stations included in the analysis for each country
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Phosphate fertiliser consumption
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Phosphate fertiliser consumption per agricultural land area unit.
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Emission trends of nitrogen oxides (EEA member countries, EU-27 Member States)
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This chart shows past emission trends of nitrogen oxides in the EEA-32 and EU-27 group of countries. In addition - for the EU-27 - the 2010 emission ceiling and aggregated projections reported by Member States are shown.
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Change in emissions of nitrogen oxides compared with the 2010 NECD and Gothenburg protocol targets (EEA member countries)
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The reported change in nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx) for each country, 1990-2008, in comparison with the 2010 NECD and Gothenburg protocol targets.
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Nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions (APE 002) - Assessment published Dec 2011
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EEA-32 emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO X ) have decreased by 41% between 1990 and 2009. In 2009, the most significant sources of NO X emissions were the ‘Road transport’ sector (38%), ‘Energy production and distribution’ sector (22%), ‘Commercial, institutional and households’ sector (15%) and the ‘Energy use in industry’ sector (13%).
The largest reduction of emissions in absolute terms since 1990 has occurred in the road transport sector. These reductions have been achieved despite the general increase in activity within this sector since the early 1990s and have primarily been achieved as a result of fitting three-way catalysts to petrol fuelled vehicles. However, ambient urban concentrations of NO 2 in EU-27 countries in recent years have not fallen by as much as reported emissions. Since 2002, NO 2 average annual mean concentrations at urban background sites have fallen by just 9 %, as indicated in CSI 004, during which time the reported NO X emissions for the EU-27 decreased by 23%. This discrepancy may be a result of a general under-estimation of the effect of catalytic degradation in newer cars, in which case a number of member states’ NO X emissions could be significantly higher than currently calculated.
In the electricity/energy production sector reductions have also occurred, in these instances as a result of measures such as the introduction of combustion modification technologies (such as use of low NO X burners), implementation of flue-gas abatement techniques (e.g NO X scrubbers and selective (SCR) and non-selective (SNCR) catalytic reduction techniques) and fuel-switching from coal to gas.
The National Emission Ceilings Directive (NECD) specifies NO X emission ceilings for Member States that must be met by 2010. In general, the newer EU Member States have made substantially better progress towards meeting their respective NO X ceilings than the older Member States of the EU-15. Ten of the twelve post-2004 Member States had already reduced their 2009 emissions beyond what is required under the NECD, with the remaining two reporting NO X emissions less than 2% above the NECD target . In contrast, only four of the EU-15 Member States reported emissions for 2009 within their respective national ceilings. Thus many Member States required a significant reduction of NO X emissions to have been made in 2010 if they are to meet their obligations under the NECD. Of the three non-EU countries having emission ceilings set under the UNECE/CLRTAP Gothenburg protocol (Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) only for Switzerland were emissions in 2009 below the level of their 2010 ceiling.
Environmental context: NO X contributes to acid deposition and eutrophication. The subsequent impacts of acid deposition can be significant, including adverse effects on aquatic ecosystems in rivers and lakes and damage to forests, crops and other vegetation. Eutrophication can lead to severe reductions in water quality with subsequent impacts including decreased biodiversity, changes in species composition and dominance, and toxicity effects. It is NO 2 that is associated with adverse affects on human health, as at high concentrations it can cause inflammation of the airways. NO 2 also contributes to the formation of secondary particulate aerosols and tropospheric ozone in the atmosphere - both are important air pollutants due to their adverse impacts on human health.
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Nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions
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Emissions of acidifying substances (CSI 001) - Assessment published Dec 2011
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Emissions of the acidifying pollutants (nitrogen oxides (NO X ), sulphur oxides (SO X ) and ammonia (NH 3 ) have decreased significantly in most of the individual EEA member countries between 1990 and 2009. Emissions of SO X have decreased by 76%, NO X by 41% and NH 3 emissions by 26% since 1990.
The EU-27 is on track to meet its overall target to reduce emissions of SO X and NH 3 as specified by the EU’s National Emissions Ceiling Directive (NECD). However a number of individual Member States, and the EU as a whole, anticipates missing their NECD 2010 emission ceilings for NO X .
Of the three non-EU countries having emission ceilings for 2010 under the UNECE/CLRTAP Gothenburg protocol (Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), both Liechtenstein and Norway reported NO X emissions in 2009 that were substantially higher than their respective 2010 ceilings.
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