This indicator tracks trends of industrial emissions of selected air pollutants. The indicator includes releases of carbon dioxide (CO2), the most significant greenhouse gas, acidifying pollutants (sulphur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx)), and other pollutants that damage human health and the environment, such as particulate matter (PM10), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) and heavy metals (Cadmium (Cd), Lead (Pb), and mercury (Hg). These trends are presented together with the trend of gross value added (GVA) by industry, as an indicator of the economic contribution of the sector.
The aggregated EU-27 trends feature in Figure 1 while country specific trend changes are offered in Figure 2.
The geographical coverage comprises the 27-EU Member States (EU-27) (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden).
The temporal coverage is 2010-2020. Data were reported to the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR).
Methodology for indicator calculation
Queries are applied to the Industrial Emissions Database (where the E-PRTR is included) to extract and aggregate emissions reported individually for each operator in Europe to produce figure 1 and 2. Emissions are aggregated at country and European level, indexed to 2010 levels and a trend line is then constructed.
For Fig. 1, the gross added value is indexed to 2010 levels and a trend line constructed.
Gap filling was performed to complete data missing for some countries in the last years of the timeline. Future versions will account to more complete datasets as countries resolve these issues as time passes by.
While E-PRTR contains data since 2007, the earlier years are known as incomplete and of lesser quality. This has led to the indicator showing data as from 2010.
Methodology for gap filling
Germany, Lithuania and Slovakia did not report any data from 2017; Italy and Malta did not report any data for 2020. In these cases, the most recent data available have been used to populate the emissions trend.
Anthropogenic air emissions contribute to a wide range of detrimental effects for the environment and human health. While many human activities contribute to these emissions, industry is a very significant sources. This indicator presents substances where industry contribution is particularly relevant.
The European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) require industry operators to submit, among other data, values for releases of pollutants to the atmosphere across 91 pollutants.
Air pollution and air quality are regulated through various mechanisms in the EU. Industrial air emissions operate with a dedicated policy, Directive 2010/75/EU on industrial emissions. This EU legislation imposes a case-by-case permit for large industrial operators which contains emission limit values to air. These emissions, when above certain annual load thresholds, are to be reported to the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (e-PRTR).
This indicator is useful to capture how the industrial emission policy contributes to a progressive reduction of air releases in Europe. Due to the way the reporting mechanisms are designed, this indicator reflects emissions from large operators and only when annual releases are above the legally established thresholds. In other words, the indicator tracks emissions significant at a European scale and does not cover emissions from smaller operators.
Targets
No target is specified.
Methodology uncertainty
No uncertainty has been specified.
Data sets uncertainty
No uncertainty has been specified.
Rationale uncertainty
No uncertainty has been specified.