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Indicator Specification
Emissions of total non-methane volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and methane contribute to the formation of ground level (i.e. tropospheric) ozone. Ozone is a powerful oxidant and can have a range of adverse impacts on both human health and ecosystems. Tropospheric ozone also increases the radiative forcing so diminishing the level of emissions of tropospheric ozone precursors will improve the human and ecosystem health and will also contribute to climate change mitigation.
Tropospheric (ground level) ozone has adverse effects on human health and ecosystems. Emissions of total non-methane volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and methane contribute to the formation of ground level (i.e. tropospheric) ozone. High concentrations of ground level ozone have been shown to adversely affect the human respiratory system, and there is evidence that long-term exposure to raised ozone concentrations accelerates the decline in lung function with age and may impair the development of lung function. In the environment, high concentrations of ozone are harmful to crops and forests, decreasing yields, causing leaf damage and decreasing disease resistance. Ozone is also capable of causing damage to man made polymeric materials such as plastics and rubbers.
TOFP is the Tropospheric Ozone Forming Potential of each of the air pollutants that contribute to ozone formation in the troposphere i.e. ‘ground-level’ ozone.
Emissions in ktonnes
This indicator monitors the trend in emissions of energy-related ozone precursors. Emissions of NOx and NMVOCs are both covered by the EU National Emission Ceilings Directive (NECD; 2001/81/EC) and the Gothenburg protocol under the United Nations Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP Convention; UNECE 1999). Both these instruments contain emission ceilings targets that EU Member States and other countries must meet by 2010. Emission reduction targets for the new Member States have been specified in the Treaties of Accession to the European Union (2003 and 2005 -The Treaty of Accession 2003 of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. AA2003/ACT/Annex II/en 2072 / 2005 European Union Consolidated Versions of the Treaty on European Union and of the Treaty Establishing the European Community C 321 E/1) in order that they can comply with the National Emission Ceilings Directive. In addition, the Treaty of Accession for Bulgaria and Romania (2005 - http://ec.europa.eu/environment/air/pdf/eu27_nat_emission_ceilings_2010.pdf) also includes a new target for the EU-27 region as a whole. Targets for the new Member States are temporary and are without prejudice to the review of the NECD. A proposal for a revised NEC Directive (which will set 2020 emission ceiling targets for these ozone precursors pollutants), is expected in 2013. Targets for Bulgaria and Romania are provisional and not binding. Hence, the existing EU25 NECD Target has been used in the following analysis.
The NECD generally involves slightly stricter emission reduction targets than the Gothenburg Protocol. For example, during the period 1990-2010 the EU-15 has NOx emission reduction targets of 52 % and 51% under the NECD and Gothenburg Protocol respectively. For NMVOC, the EU-15 reduction required under the NECD is 55 %, under the Gothenburg reduction target the reduction required is 54 %.
In September 2005 the European Commission released a thematic strategy on air pollution. This strategy sets interim objectives for reducing air pollution impacts across Europe by 2020. The thematic strategy is due to be reviewed by 2013. Other directives influencing emissions of ozone precursors include:
Emissions of NOx and NMVOCs are covered by the EU National Emission Ceilings Directive (NECD) and the Gothenburg Protocol to the UNECE LRTAP Convention (UNECE 1999). Both instruments contain emission ceilings (limits) that countries must meet by 2010. See also CSI002
Indicator is based on officially reported national total and sectoral emissions to UNECE/EMEP (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe/Co-operative programme for monitoring and evaluation of the long-range transmission of air pollutants in Europe) Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP Convention), submission 2010. Recommended methodologies for emission inventory estimation are compiled in the EMEP/CORINAIR Atmospheric Emission Inventory guidebook, EEA Copenhagen (EEA, 2009). Base data are available from the EEA Data Service (http://dataservice.eea.europa.eu/dataservice/metadetails.asp?id=1096) and the EMEP web site (http://www.ceip.at/). Recalculations of Member States data may happen. These are fully documented in the EEA report http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/eu-emission-inventory-report-1990-2009.
Base data, reported in NFR are aggregated into the following EEA sector codes to obtain a common reporting format across all countries and pollutants:
The following table shows the conversion of Nomenclature for Reporting (NFR) sector codes used for reporting by countries into EEA sector codes:
EEA classification |
Non-GHGs (NFR) |
GHG (CRF) |
National totals |
National total |
National totals without LUCF |
Energy Industries |
1A1 |
1A1 |
Fugitive emissions |
1B1, 1B2 |
1B |
Road transport |
1A3b |
1A3b |
Non-road transport (non-road mobile machinery) |
1A3 (exl 1A3b) |
1A3a, 1A3c, 1A3d, 1A3e |
Industrial processes |
2 |
2 |
Other non-energy (Solvent and product use) |
3, 7A |
3 |
Agriculture |
4 |
4 |
Waste |
6 |
6 |
Household and services |
1A4ai, 1A4aii, 1A4bi, 1A5a |
1A4A, 1A4B |
Manufacturing / Construction |
1A2 |
1A2 |
An improved gap-filling methodology used in compiling this year's EU‑27 emission inventory means that for the first time a complete EU‑27 time series trend for the main air pollutants (NOx, SOx, NMVOC, NH3 and CO) can be reported to the LRTAP Convention. For the remaining pollutants, one or more Member States did not report emissions for any year meaning that gap-filling could not be applied. For these pollutants, therefore, the aggregated EU data are not yet complete and are likely to underestimate true emissions. See section 1.4.2 Data gaps and gap-filling in European Union emission inventory report 1990 — 2008 under the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP)[1]
The NOx, CO and NMVOC emissions data officially submitted by EU Member States and other EEA member countries follow common calculation (EMEP/EEA 2011) and reporting guidelines (UNECE 2003). CH4 emissions are estimated by countries following IPCC Guidelines (e.g. IPCC 2011).
Nitrogen oxide emission estimates in Europe are thought to have an uncertainty of about +/-20% (EMEP 2009), as the NOx emitted comes both from the fuel burnt and the combustion air and so cannot be estimated accurately from fuel nitrogen alone. However, because of the need for interpolation to account for missing data, the complete dataset used will have higher uncertainty. The trend is likely to be more accurate than the individual absolute annual values - the annual values are not independent of each other.
Uncertainties in emissions of CO are likely to have a similar magnitude of uncertainty as for NOx. NMVOC emissions data have been verified by EMEP and others by means of comparison between modelled and measured concentration throughout Europe (EMEP, 1998). From these studies total uncertainty ranges have been estimated to about +/-50%. Some main source categories are less uncertain.
CH4 estimates are reasonably reliable as they are based on a few well-known emission sources. The IPCC believes that the uncertainty in CH4 emission estimates from all sources, in Europe, is likely to be about +/-20 %. CH4 emissions from some sources, such as rice fields, are much larger (possibly an order of magnitude), but are a minor emission source in Europe. In 2004, EU Member States reported uncertainties in their estimates of CH4 emissions from enteric fermentation as ranging between 0.5 % (UK) and 2.8 % (Ireland) of the total national GHG emissions (EEA 2004).
Incomplete reporting and resulting intra- and extrapolation may obscure some trends.
No uncertainty has been specified
No uncertainty has been specified
Work specified here requires to be completed within 1 year from now.
Work specified here will require more than 1 year (from now) to be completed.
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/energy-related-emissions-of-ozone-precursors-3 or scan the QR code.
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