Air Pollution Indicators

An indicator should...• Be representive for environmental

conditions;• be simple and easy to interpret;• shows trends over time;• shows contributions from sectors or

individual components;• be consistently used within the DPSIR-chain;• have a target value.

Assessment information D riving forces (economic sectors:

transport, combustion, solvent use)

P ressures (emissions: VOC & NOx)

S tate (air quality: ozone exceedances)

I mpacts (health, ecosystems, materials)

R esponses (policies, measures)

• Indicators will form building blocks of main EEA reports (Environmental Signals, TERM/EERM, Kiev, ..)

• Core set vs sub-sets to support thematic reports

Indicators - current set• Climate change

– policy update– emissions CO2 & non-CO2– temperature/precipitation change

• Stratospheric Ozone– ozone column– potential Cl– UV– production ODS, HCFC

AP Indicators - current setFocus on• Pressure & State• Urban Air Quality• Acidification• Pollutants from first DD + Ozone• retrospective (Env Sign)• Policy Update

Sources of AP indicators• CORINAIR• AIRBASE

in addition:• Auto Oil 2• ShAIR

AP Indicators - current set• Emission indicators

– information on trends (1980-present)– information on sector contributions– aggregated information on theme:

• ground-level ozone• acidification and eutrophication• pm10 exposure

Emissions of O3-precursors

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

50000

1980

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

O3

prec

urso

rs (k

tonn

eVO

C eq

/yr)

VOC NOx CO CH4 TARGET

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

50000

1980

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

Thou

sand

tonn

es

Other

Agriculture

Transport

Industry

Fugitive

Energy

TARGET

Emissions of O3-precursors

Evaluation of NOx emissions

-75% -50% -25% 0% 25%

Portugal

Greece

Ireland

Spain

Belgium

France

Austria

Italy

Finland

Denmark

Sweden

Netherlands

Luxembourg

Germany

United Kingdom

EU15

1990-19981990-2010(NEC)

Environmental Policy

0

50

100

150

200

250

1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000

SOx-

emis

sion

(10

6 k

g)

reference

realisation fume desulparization

sulphur content reduction coal

shift from petrol to diesel

efficiency improvement

Environmental Policy

100

120

140

160

180

200

220

240

1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000

NO

x-em

issi

on (1

0 6 k

g)

reference

realisation

catalytic converter

other measures

shift from petrol to diesel

Pressure Problems ?• PM10/PM2.5 -emission data• Consensus on aggregation procedure • Indicator for Urban Air Pollution?• Missing years (now simple interpolation)

• Emissions of toxic pollutants (HM, POP)?

Air Pollution Indicators• Air Quality

– (urban) population exposure to• ozone• SO2• NO2• particulate (PM10)

– exceedance of critical loads (EMEP)• acid• nitrogen input

Env Signals: UAQ• SO2, particulate (TSP, BS, PM10),

NO2, O3• observed data (AirBase, O3-dir)• counting exceedance days• not fully in line with DD• short term limit values

Urban AQ: NO2 NO2: Average number of exceedance days in urban areas

(1h >200 ug/m3). All urban sites excluding urban background stations.

0

5

10

15

20

25

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998Av

erag

e nu

mbe

r of e

xcee

danc

e da

ys The Netherlands

U.K.

Spain

Urban AQ: OzoneO3: Average number of exceedance days in urban areas

(8h >110 ug/m3) and nr of inhabitants covered

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Aver

age

num

ber o

f exc

eeda

nce

days

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Popu

latio

n (m

illio

n)

TERM: UAQ

1995

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

CO

Benzene

NO2

PM10

% of urban population potentially exposed

2010

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

CO

Benzene

NO2

PM10

% of urban population potentially exposed

reference

zero traff ic scenario

State problems ?• Spatial coverage

– missing regions– urban or/and rural

• harmonisation of MM• stable network• temporal: historic data• most critical LV• model vs measurement

Impact indicators• Ecosystems:

– exceedances of critical loads/levels

• Human health– ??????????