ETC-ACCAugust 2001

The 2nd Joint UN ECE Task Force & EIONET Workshop on Emission Inventories and Projections, 9 – 11th May 2001, Palais des Nations, Geneva
Report of the EIONET meeting , 10 May 2001
Authors: / Manfred Ritter, Tinus Pulles
Date: / August 2001

Contents

(1)Background and participants

(2)Introduction and work plan of the ETC/ACC

(3)Priority EIONET data flows and EEA reference centre

(4)ETC indicator and assessment activities

(5)ETC support tools for national inventories

(6)Reports on national inventory systems

(7)Priorities for EEA and its ETC/ACC for next 2-3- years

(8)Next EIONET workshop

Annex 1:Participants EIONET meeting

Annex 2: Agenda joint TFEIP/EIONET workshop

Annex 3: Presentations

(1)Background and participants

The meeting was part of the joint UNECE Task Force and EIONET (European Environmental Information and Observation Network) workshop on emission inventories and projections, 9-11 May 2001 at the Palais des Nations, Geneva. André Jol (EEA) and Manfred Ritter (ETC/ACC) chaired the meeting.

The programme of 9 May was a joint activity between EEA/ETC-ACC/EIONET and UNECE/TFEIP. André Jol (EEA) gave a presentation on 9 May on recent EEA developments and Keimpe Wieringa (ETC/ACC) on the work programme of ETC/ACC. See for more information on the TFEIP meeting and the various presentations the web site

On 10 May a plenary meeting was fully devoted to EIONET, and this report provides the main results of this session. The main objectives of the EIONET meeting were:

  • To achieve further progress at international level regarding co-ordination and harmonisation between various international reporting obligations. Part of this process is the joining of the EIONET workshop and the UNECE task force meeting.
  • To achieve co-ordinated actions in the countries between National Focal Points (NFPs), National Reference Centres (NRCs) on Air Emissions and National Statistical Institutes;
  • To inform NRCs of the current and near future international requirements for reporting of national air emission inventories (EU legislation, UNFCCC, UNECE/CLRTAP and OECD/Eurostat);
  • To present and discuss achievements in 2000, work programmes and main products for 2001 of EEA and its ETC/ACC;
  • To present and discuss activities on air emissions data flow and data management in relation to the EEA’s environmental reference centre. This also includes the EIONET servers in the countries and the established web-based Interest Groups.
  • To present, review and discuss national emission inventory and projections’ activities by NRCs (examples from various countries);
  • To demonstrate products and services provided by the ETC/ACC: Topic and Technical Reports, the software tools and the plans for further improving these in 2001, and contributions to the joint EMEP/CORINAIR Atmospheric Emission Inventory Guidebook.
  • To provide training sessions with the most recent CORINAIR software tools EstimatER, CollectER, ReportER, (including the new Common Reporting Format (CRF)) and COPERT3.

A background document was prepared for the EIONET meeting, which is available on the ETC/ACC web site ( The list of participants is attached in Annex 1. The agenda of the meeting is provided as Annex 2. EEA hosted a joint TFEIP/EIONET reception on 10 May. For presentations at the meeting see Annex 3.

(2)Introduction and work plan of the ETC/ACC

A. Jol (EEA) reminded the participants of the objectives of the EIONET meeting and welcomed the fact that for the second year a joint workshop could be organised together with UNECE/TFEIP. He also mentioned that learning from the experiences of the first joint workshop in 2000, this year in addition to joint sessions also a separate EIONET meeting had been arranged, because, although many objectives are shared with UNECE/TFEIP, EEA and EIONET also have their own objectives, which are better addressed in this way.

Several main challenges for EEA and ETC/ACC the coming years:

  • Develop indicator-based reporting mechanisms for sectors and themes across the DPSIR (Driving forces, Pressures, State, Impact and Responses) assessment framework;
  • Develop and implement tools and methodologies for assessing policy effectiveness, using state of action information from member countries and using consistent socio-economic scenarios (to produce environmental outlooks);
  • Streamline institutional responsibilities at EU and international level, and networks with Member States, for all reporting relevant to the environment and assist member countries in their reporting obligations.

K. Wieringa (ETC/ACC) presented the main elements of the work plan of the new European Topic Centre on Air and Climate Change (ETC/ACC), which builds on the work of the ETC on Air Emissions and the ETC on Air Quality. The main areas of work are air emissions inventories and indicators, air quality monitoring and indicators, integrated environmental assessment through the whole causality (“DPSIR”) chain of climate change and air pollution and supporting the main international and EU policy frameworks (on air pollution and climate change).

The main products and services of ETC/ACC will be:

  • Air pollution: (1)reports on trends in air emissions and air quality; (2)core set of policy relevant indicators; (3)support to air quality and air emission data reporting and information access; (4)support to the CAFE programme.
  • Climate Change: (1)core set of policy relevant indicators (also on impact of climate change); (2)reports on climate change and greenhouse gas emission trends; (3)compilation of the greenhouse gas inventory; (4)comparison of EU and MS greenhouse gas emission projections.
  • Common elements: (1)contributions to EEA main reports (2004 outlook report, Kiev report, Environmental signals, sectoral reports, such as transport and energy); (2)support of the EIONET (workshops, country visits, ETC web site, support tools).

(3)Priority EIONET data flows and EEA reference centre

M. Ritter (ETC/ACC) gave a presentation on the air and greenhouse gas emission data flow within the European Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET) and the information provided in the EEA reference centre (see and

One focus of his presentation was the success of the reporting mechanism for EU greenhouse gas emissions under Council Decision 99/296/EC, which contrasts to the reporting of air pollutant emissions. One possible reason for this success is the well-defined framework (for EU Member States) within Decision 99/296/EC and the associated guidelines as legal basis and the well-balanced involvement of scientists (within FCCC/IPCC) and emission inventory experts and policy makers in the reporting mechanism by means of regular meetings of working groups within the EU (coordinated by the European Commission in cooperation with the EEA).

Some future challenges for the EIONET are:

  • European greenhouse gas emission indicator reports: (1)to maintain and improve timeliness and completeness of the data provision (e.g. CRF and F-gases, consistency of GHG data with fuel statistics); (2)to adapt to new requirements (e.g. Inventory Report, National System, QA/QC).
  • European air emission indicator reports: (1)set up/improve timeliness and completeness (European totals by sectors, new pollutants); (2)adapt to new requirements (e.g. PM10, new reporting format, improve consistency with point source data).
  • Integrated EEA and ETC databases, reports and services (EEA Reference Centre): (1)adapt to changing policy needs; (2)improve analysis of policy effectiveness by developing indicators and linking with international developments; (3)improve co-ordination within countries and between international organisations; (4)increase direct involvement of NRCs.

Some recommendations for improving the EIONET were:

  • National Inventory System: (1)to set up a national system suitable for the main international reporting requirements and to enhance cooperation between national institutes and stakeholders; (2)to provide copies of inventory data to ETC/ACC; (3)to adapt to new requirements (LRTAP/EMEP: NFR, FCCC/Kyoto Protocol, EU IPPC/EPER, EU proposed NEC); (4)liaise with NFPs and other organisations on indicator development.
  • European Inventory System: (1)consolidate existing priority data flow (EEA, ETC/ACC, EEA member countries); (2)adapt to new requirements at European level; (3)improve data exchange between EU and international organisations (including EEA/ETC, Eurostat, EMEP/MSC-W, FCCC Secretariat); (4)aim at involving stakeholders; (5)ensure that reported data is, apart for reporting obligations, is also used for indicators (to enhance efficient use of national and international resources).
  • Support to international reporting guidelines and guidebook development: (1)EU, with European Commission (MM WGs, LCP, EPER, NEC, CAFE); (2)UNECE/LRTAP (Guidebook, NFR, software tools); (3) FCCC/IPCC (Use experiences also within UNECE/LRTAP and vice versa, e.g. on good practice).

Discussion: The discussion after the presentation focussed on the role of science in improving the inventory data, the integration of the Accession Countries into the reporting mechanisms, risk of duplication of work, the role of the new NRCs that EEA requested countries to nominate, the priority data and information flow within the EIONET, the EU IPPC/EPER data flows in the future and how to use the experiences of the EU Monitoring Mechanism for estimating and reporting of (EU) greenhouse gas emissions also for reporting of (EU) air pollutant emissions.

Some conclusions on these issues were:

  • Science should contribute at national level to the improvement of the inventories and at the international level (EMEP/TFEIP) on improvement of the methodologies in the EMEP/CORINAIR Guidebook. In addition, the review process under the international conventions, with the FCCC review process being most advanced, can also lead to improvement of the quality of national inventories.
  • The integration of the accession countries into the existing EU reporting mechanisms, in particular the EU GHG Monitoring Mechanism (MM), is a high priority. The informal participation of the accession countries in MM meetings which has already started by the Commission (DG Environment) and the inclusion of accession countries into next year's (2002) EEA/ETC greenhouse gas trend report (with a feasibility study in 2001) should contribute to the integration of the accession countries in various parts of EEA/ETC-ACC work.
  • The new NRCs, for which EEA requested nominations by countries, for new topics (climate change and climate change/air pollution integrated assessment) should not bring a duplication of work, because the EEA/ETC-ACC aims at closely linking with the UNECE/TFIAM. Various EEA and ETC staff participated actively in the May 2001 TFIAM meeting in Brussels. EEA member countries will probably nominate the same experts for EEA air pollution assessment activities as those already nominated for UNECE/TFIAM. For climate change, EEA expects nominations of experts that are already closely linked to ongoing IPCC work (in various existing IPCC working groups).
  • Concerning the information flow within the telematics part of EIONET (or e-EIONET), the ETC stressed that it is important that countries increasingly make use of their national EIONET servers and dedicated CIRCLE Interest Groups. Automatic notification is possible if by the use of an Interest Group, where needed. Therefore, the information flow that makes use of CIRCLE IG’s can work similar to email. In addition, the value of the national as well as EEA/ETC EIONET Interest Groups as a database/reference centre (and archive) was underlined.
  • Concerning the implementation of the EU EPER and the involvement of EEA/ETC, discussions are still ongoing; no decisions are made yet. EEA/ETC is interested to be involved and participates actively in the discussions in the EPER meetings (Brussels).
  • In the proposed NEC Directive no detailed reference on emission reporting is made yet; probably a committee will be set up to determine details. The EEA/ETC would be strongly in favor of having the same Emission Reporting Guidelines for the NEC as for LRTAP/EMEP (revised guidelines). However, a more formalised mechanism of EU emission reporting for air pollutants should probably be in place earlier, in order to improve reporting by the EU as a Party to the UNECE/CLRTAP. Because the EU Monitoring Mechanism for estimating and reporting of (EU) greenhouse gas emissions has been very successful, it was proposed to use its experiences also for reporting of (EU) air pollutant emissions and to discuss this with the Commission (DG Environment). This proposal encountered agreement but also some reservation.

(4)ETC indicator and assessment activities

The purpose of this agenda point was to present the plans of EEA/ETC for this year as regards some major products.

T. Pulles presented the initial plans of ETC/ACC's contributions to the Environmental Signals Report 2002 and to the Kiev Report. The contributions are based on other ETC/ACC products (Fact Sheets, Air Emissions Trends Report, Greenhouse Gas Trend Report) and aim at including the whole DPSIR chain. It also builds on the work done by the previous ETCs AQ/AE for earlier EEA main reports (Europe’s Second Assessment and Environment in the EU at the turn of the century). This means that the analysis of air pollution and climate change issues is carried further to more policy relevance by giving a more coherent picture of the interrelation of driving forces, pressures, state, impact and response to environmental problems.

B. Gugele gave an outline of this year's (2001) EC greenhouse gas emission trend report 1990-1999. The main purposes of the report are:

(1)Contribute to the progress assessment of the European Commission under the Monitoring Mechanism. The report focuses on actual progress (past performance) and serves as input for the annual assessment report of the European Commission on progress of the EC towards meeting its greenhouse gas emission targets under the UNFCCC/Kyoto Protocol.

(2)To update and improve the similar topic report produced in 2000 (EEA Topic Report No. 6/2000) and give an overview of policy relevant trends by using consistent and comparable indicators based on data of the MS (CRF) and some additional data from Eurostat. The main data basis of the report is the Annual EC Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990-1999 as compiled from the submissions of the MS under the MM (available at

Compared with last year's report, more focus on non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions and some steps towards more policy relevance by identifying relevant indicators will be made. The approaches of the report focus on a quantified distance-to-target analysis and on a sectoral assessment, by identifying key source sectors using the approach of the IPCC good practice guidance. The report forms the basis from which the greenhouse gas emissions indicators are taken and used in fact sheets, that are underlying the various EEA main reports to be published in 2001 and early 2002. The topic report will be sent for review to NFP/EIONET in June and will be published in September 2001.

J. Goodwin presented the plans for the report on European emission trends of air pollutants (which will be a complementary product to the greenhouse gas emissions trend report mentioned above). The air emissions report provides information on trends in emissions of all air pollutants, following a distance to target analysis, excluding greenhouse gases, and trends in the main socio-economic driving forces (e.g. GDP, energy, transport). The report is a follow-up of a similar EEA report of 1999 (emissions of Atmospheric Pollutants 1990-1996 prepared by ETC/AE).

The report will only use nationally reported emissions data (historic) with ETC alterations only to fill main gaps or amend main inconsistencies in a fully transparent manor. The report aims to include data and analysis of trends for EEA 18 member countries and in addition the 10 (Phare) accession countries. The report forms the basis from which the air emissions indicators are taken and used in fact sheets, that are underlying the various EEA main reports to be published in 2001 and early 2002. The report will be sent for review to NFP/EIONET in October 2001 and is expected to be published end of 2001.

(5)ETC support tools for national inventories

T. Pulles (ETC/ACC) and also actively participating in the IDA-EINRC project (see below) presented an overview of developments of the ETC software country support tools and the plans for further improving these. The ETC/AE had during 2000 further developed, partly under the EEA programme and partly with financial support from DG Entreprise (IDA programme), the Data Exchange Module (AE DEM) PC software tools, presently consisting of three types of tools. This work continues under a follow-up IDA programme, during 2001. The ETC/ACC partner TNO (Pulles) is responsible for the further AE-DEM development in this new IDA programme. The main elements of the system are, partly developed in 2000 and partly in 2001:

  • CollectER: a tool for collecting and managing a national emission inventory database; this tool is now being prepared to include emission data required to be collected nationally under the EU EPER/IPPC and LCP Directives.
  • ReportER: a tool to extract, arrange and aggregate the data in the national database towards the main EU and international obligatory reporting formats. The focus has been on the detailed UNFCCC-CRF tool (Common Reporting Format) for GHGs. As soon as the new reporting guidelines of UNECE/CRLTAP are accepted (expected at the EMEP Steering Body meeting in September), the IDA project will start work to replace the present “EMEP” reporting module.
  • EstimatER: Expert systems for calculating GHG emissions from specific sources and export these into the FCCC CRF template. This tool is now available for:
  • The sector “Agriculture”;
  • The so-called “Reference Approach” for CO2 from energy;
  • Copert III: a specific tool with a purpose equivalent to an EstimatER for road traffic, but using a different modelling approach.

The EstimatER has been demonstrated at the meeting and a copy of the software was made available, by means of the IDA project, on CD ROM for all participants.