General explanation of the Emission Register project
Contents
Scope of the project
The Emission Register contains the yearly releases of more than 350 pollutants to air, soil and water
The Emission Register project covers the whole process of collecting, processing and reporting
of the emission data in the Netherlands. The emission from individual point sources (companies or facilities) and
the diffuse emissions, calculated from national statistics by the so called task forces)
are stored into one central database.
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Goal
Goal of the project is to agree on one national data set for emissions that meets the following criteria:
transparent, complete, comparable, consistent and accurate. This data set is stored in a central database,
from which all the national and international reporting is done.
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History
The first steps for the establishment of an integrated Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) were taken in the Netherlands in 1974.
Following on from ICT developments, several updates of the database application have since then been performed, including a close integration with GIS.
The components for each compartment (air, water, soil) were identified with respect to the nature and seriousness of the environmental problems,
the sources and the location of the sources. Later, the dimension ‘time’ was added to allow a focus on trends.
This resulted in an emission register with five dimensions:
Figure 1: Dimensions of emissions in the central database
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Organisation
The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) co-ordinates the annual compilation of the Emission Register on behalf of the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) and the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management (VenW). The Emission Register was established in co-operation with a number of institutes, including Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and Deltares. In total about 70 persons are involved
(The page related links lists the organisations participating in the Dutch Emission Register)
Operating Procedure
Collecting and processing national emissions for each emission source is done according to a standard protocol.
Different emission experts from the participating organisations in the
Task Forces calculate the national emissions from 1200 emission sources on the basis of these protocols.
A formal agreement is drawn up by all the participating organisations. After intensive checking, the national emissions are accepted by
the project leader of the Emission Register and the data set is stored in the central database located at the Environmental Assessment Agency.
Here the national emissions are spatially allocated per emission source..
Task Forces
The 1200 emission sources are logically divided into 55 work packages. An emission expert is responsible for one or more work packages,
the collection of the data and the calculation of the emissions. The experts are also closely involved in developing the methodologies to
calculate the emissions. Work packages are grouped into 5 task forces as described below:
Task force on Energy, Industry and Waste Management - ENINA:
Covers the emissions to air from the sectors Industry, Energy production, Refineries and Waste management.
ENINA has emission experts from the following organisations: The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency,
the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, Statistics Netherlands,
NL Milieu en Leefomgeving and FO-Industry.
Task force on Transportation
Covers the emissions to soil, water and air from the transportation sector (aviation, shipping, rail and road transport).
The following organisations are represented in this task force: The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Statistics Netherlands,
Centre for Water Management, Deltares and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research.
Task force on Agriculture
Covers the calculation of emissions to soil, water and air. Participating organisations are The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), the Netherlands Environmental Assessment
Agency, LEI, Alterra, Statistics Netherlands, EC-LNV, TNO (the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research)
and the Centre for Water Management.
Task force on Water - MEWAT
In the task force water the emissions from all sector to water are calculated. Centre for Water Management, Deltares, The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)
Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Statistics Netherlands and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research are represented.
Task force on Consumers and other sources of emissions - WESP
Covers emissions caused by consumers, trade and services. The members are emission experts from Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency,
the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research and Statistics Netherlands.
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Components
The Emission Register contains the emissions of more than 300 pollutants. Components are selected according to the international
reporting obligations: the Kyoto Protocol, the Water Framework Directive, the 'European Pollution Release and Transfer Register'
(E-PRTR) and various UN and EU obligations. Additionally monitored are components for following national environmental policies.
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Emission Sources
In order to follow emission trends, it is essential to investigate emission sources. Main sources and activities that might cause
the release of emissions into the environment are retrieved before a component is added to the database. The emission sources
are categorized into the following sectors and sub-sectors relevant to environmental policies: Agriculture, Chemical industry,
Construction, Consumers, Energy production, Nature, Other, Other industries, Refineries, Sewage and wastewater treatment,
Trade and services, Transport and Waste disposal.
The Emission Register distinguishes point sources and diffuse emission sources. Point sources are measured or calculated for a location,
e.g. an individual factory or facility such as a refinery or energy plant. Diffuse sources originate in activities where the emission
register has no fixed location, e.g. agriculture, road traffic or small companies.
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Compartments
The emission register shows the emissions from six compartments:
- Air for emission to the air
- Air IPCC for only the emissions that have to be reported to IPCC, excluding some national emissions, for example, those from
international shipping, air traffic above a certain level and CO2 from biofuels
- Soil for emissions to soil, including deposition
- Discharged load to surface waters
- Load to sewers and surface waters
- Load to sewers
New schematisation introduced for discharges to water
The terms for indirect and direct load to implicate the gross and net burden to the environment are no longer in use and
a new compartment is introduced to embody the sewer-systems.
In the following text is described for each compartment which route is meant and to which compartment the data is categorized.
Pollutants discharged from a source will not always entirely reach the environment because a part of the load is treated in urban
wastewater treatment installations (UWWTP) or transferred to other compartments and/or broken down by natural processes.
The treated wastewater discharged from UWWTP’s to surface waters is known as effluent. The pollutants left behind in the UWWTP
are removed through the abstraction of sewage sludge. Since some of the pollutants are thus removed or broken down (by bacteria)
in the UWWTP the ultimate burden (and load) to surface waters is lower. After heavy rainfall, stormwater overflows on some occasions
discharge the surplus of wastewater without prior treatment directly into the surface waters
Compartment “Discharged load to surface waters” remains unaltered.
The discharged load, the (net) load that actually reaches the surface waters, consists of pollutants from various routes and transfers
between compartments. Inflows via transboundary rivers are not included when calculating this load since those sources are located outside
The Netherlands. This compartment contains Discharge to water and Effluents and Stormwater overflows and Rainwater drains
and Untreated sewage and Deposition on water and Run-off and leaching.
Compartment "Load to water" was renamed to "Load to sewers and surface waters".
This compartment contains the gross load to the environment at the source. These loads contain the load to surface water and
the load to the sewer-systems. The latter containing the (gross) discharged load form sources before any treatment in UWWTP’s or transfers
from or to other compartments. This compartment contains Discharge to water and Load to sewers.
Compartment “Load to sewers” is a newly introduced compartment. This compartment contains the (gross)
load to sewers including the load coming from transfers: Load to sewers and Deposition on sewers.
Figure 2: Relationship between the different water compartments
Dataflow
The dataflow follows roughly two separate tracks: one for individual sources and one for the calculation of the diffuse emission sources.
A few hundred facilities have to report their annual individual emissions. These emissions are validated by the local authorities, who,
in general, are also responsible for the permits. The reporting is done with an online instrument: the Annual Environmental Report (AER).
These reports are stored in a central database at the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. After correcting and adding some extra
facilities from other sources, the task force, ENINA, loads a copy of this data into the central emission register.
The emission specialist uses various models and national statistical data present in the participating organisations to calculate
the diffuse emissions.
Figure 3: Sources of data in the central database
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Emission calculations
The individual reported emissions per facility form the main source of information for industry. The implied emission factor is used to
calculate the emissions from the facilities that do not report individually. This is carried out for each pollutant based on the facilities
that report emissions and their production. Given the production per industrial sector the emission can be upscaled to national level.
For the non-industrial sources calculations are based on the following general principle:
Emission = Activity level x Emission factor (E=A*EF)
Data on Activities are based on national statistics. Emission factors are based on measurements and calculations of a model or (the international) literature.
You can find more on the calculations in the documentation.
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Spatial allocation of emissions
The above mentioned calculations result in a national emission for each emission source. However,
this website also shows maps with the emission given per community, water catchment area or on a 5 * 5 km grid cell.
To allocate an emission spatially, the Emission Register has a spatial allocation available for each emission source.
For example, traffic intensity (car kilometres) for the emissions from road traffic, land use (surface) for agricultural
emissions and population density for the emissions from households. Where the allocation per community is not available,
the allocations on a 5*5 km grid is aggregated to the area of a community, taking the surface of each grid cell in that community
into account. This is done using a geographic information system
or GIS. See the figures below for examples. For industrial emissions the approach taken is different. Individually reported emissions,
which have a known location, are deducted from the national total for this industrial sector. The rest of the emissions are divided
according to the number of employees per facility in this particular sector. A sector is identified by its
NACE code. The final result shown on the map is adequate for a national overview,
but this method of allocation is not detailed enough to be used on the regional scale. .
Examples of allocations used:
Figure 4: Intensity of road use by passenger cars on national and regional roads in 2004.
Figure 5: Use of farm grassland
Figure 6: Distribution of employees in the sector for manufacture of plastics
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