UNUnited Nations Economic Commission for Europe

Press Releases 1999

[Index]

ECE/ENV/99/9

Geneva, 20 October 1999

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW WORKS AIR POLLUTION REVIEW PROVES IT

The air that we breathe is definitely cleaner now than a decade or two ago. In Europe, sulphur emissions have halved since 1980, nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx) are down 16% on their 1990 levels, emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are 20% lower than in 1990, and ammonia emissions have dropped 18% since 1990.

These impressive achievements are detailed in the 160-page Major Review of Strategies and Policies for Air Pollution Abatement (Sales No. E.99.II.E.14), which the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) has just published. They are largely the result of the 1979 Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, which was drawn up under the auspices of UN/ECE. This framework Convention and its seven Protocols have forced the countries that have signed up to them to make sweeping cuts in air pollution and also put political pressure on non-parties to keep their emissions down.

As well as assessing progress, the four-yearly Major Review -- to which the Parties themselves contribute -- describes the measures they have introduced to comply with the Convention and curb air pollution: e.g. legislation, economic instruments, technical requirements. The Major Review also includes tables with the emission levels of those air pollutants that are covered by the Protocols and maps of the most vulnerable ecosystems. For instance, it shows that Austria’s, Finland’s and Sweden’s emissions of sulphur are less than a fifth of their 1980 level, Canada’s are 45% lower and Bulgaria’s are 30% down. The biggest single source of sulphur emissions is public power generation. Ireland, France, the United States, Italy and Spain, which are all Parties to the NOx Protocol, have not cut their emissions of nitrogen oxides. The United States still emits 21.2 million tons of NOx a year, the European part of the Russian Federation 2.5 million tons. The main culprit of NOx emissions is road transport. Many Parties to the VOC Protocol have already met their VOC reduction targets or are likely to do so by the end of this year. However, Italy, Spain and Norway have not managed to curb their VOC emissions at all.

Despite the generally excellent results that they have achieved over the past two decades, the Parties are not resting on their laurels. In November they will adopt a new Protocol to the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution at a meeting in Gothenburg (Sweden). This new Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone will set more ambitious targets for reducing transboundary air pollution.

For further information, please contact:

Lars NORDBERG, Deputy Director
UN/ECE Environment and Human Settlements Division
Palais des Nations, office 346
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Phone: (+41 22) 917 23 54
Fax: (+41 22) 907 01 07
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.unece.org/env/lrtap/

Table 3. Sulphur dioxide emissions as a percentage of 1980 emissions

  1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 2000* 2005* 2010*
Armenia - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Austria 100 87 82 62 55 49 44 40 29 26 23 21 16 15 14 13 13 15 - -
Belarus 100 99 96 96 93 93 93 103 97 90 86 88 62 52 44 37 33 75 66 65
Belgium 100 86 84 68 60 48 46 44 43 39 39 39 37 35 30 30 29 30 28 26
Bosnia and Herzegovina - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Bulgaria 100 - - - - - - 118 109 106 99 82 55 70 72 73 69 67 60 55
Canada 100 92 78 78 85 80 78 81 83 80 70 70 67 65 57 58 - 61 63 63
Croatia 100 - - - - - - - - - 120 72 71 76 59 45 48 89 83 78
Cyprus - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Czech Republic 100 104 106 104 102 101 96 96 92 89 83 79 68 63 56 48 42 - - -
Denmark 100 80 82 70 66 75 63 56 54 42 40 54 42 35 34 33 41 20 20 -
Finland 100 91 83 64 63 65 57 56 52 42 45 33 24 21 19 16 - 20 - -
France 100 78 75 63 56 44 40 39 37 40 39 41 37 34 30 - - - - -
Germany 100 95 90 84 81 75 70 60 38 30 168 126 104 93 78 66 49 41 31 17
Germany, former GDR 100 102 106 108 116 123 124 125 121 121                    
Greece 100 - - - - 125 - - - - 127 138 139 138 135 138 136 149 145 143
Hungary 100 97 95 91 88 86 83 79 75 67 62 56 51 47 45 43 41 55 50 40
Iceland 100 100 100 100 106 100 100 89 100 94 133 128 133 133 133 133 - 133 128 128
Ireland 100 86 71 64 64 63 73 78 68 73 80 81 73 71 80 73 66 70 70 70
Italy 100 89 76 66 56 51 51 54 52 49 44 41 37 35 34 35 - 27 23 22
Latvia - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Liechtenstein - 95 87 82 74 69 64 56 51 44 38 38 36 36 33 - - 28 28 -
Lithuania 100 100 98 100 97 98 102 102 96 96 71 75 45 40 38 30 30 53 50 47
Luxembourg 100 - - 58 - 71 - - - - 63 - - - 54 38 33 17 - -
Malta - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Netherlands 100 95 82 66 61 53 54 54 51 42 41 35 35 33 30 30 28 19 - 20
Norway 100 91 79 74 68 69 65 53 48 41 38 31 26 25 24 24 24 - - -
Poland 100 - - - - 105 102 102 102 95 78 73 69 66 64 58 58 - - -
Portugal - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Republic of Moldova 100 99 93 92 88 92 96 103 89 77 75 60 41 12 7 9 6 45 42 42
Romania 100 104 105 116 116 119 123 124 139 144 124 99 90 88 86 - - - - -
Russian Federation 100 97 99 97 91 86 80 79 72 65 62 61 54 48 42 40 37 62 60 60
Slovakia 100 - - - - 79 77 79 76 73 70 57 49 42 31 31 29 27 27 27
Slovenia 100 109 109 117 107 103 106 95 90 91 83 77 81 78 76 51 47 39 19 16
Spain 100 - - 77 - 66 59 57 48 59 68 67 66 62 - - - 65 - -
Sweden 100 88 76 62 60 54 55 46 46 33 24 20 18 18 17 16 17 15 14 14
Switzerland 100 - - - 72 66 59 53 48 42 37 35 33 29 27 29 26 22 22 23
The FYR of Macedonia - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Turkey 100 - - - 32 37 41 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ukraine 100 91 89 91 90 90 88 85 83 80 72 66 62 57 45 43 34 60 60 60
United Kingdom 100 91 86 79 76 77 80 80 78 76 77 73 71 65 55 48 41 27 21 17
United States 100 95 89 87 91 90 87 86 88 88 89 87 86 84 82 72 74 66 69 69
Yugoslavia 100 100 101 108 112 118 116 119 124 125 125 110 98 99 104 114 107 167 219 280
European Community - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

-* Projections based on current reduction plans.

Table 5. Nitrogen oxide emissions as a percentage of 1987 emissions

  1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 2000* 2005* 2010*
Armenia - 29 33 33 31 87 102 100 108 98 88 77 42 23 23 29 21 - - -
Austria 108 105 104 103 102 103 102 100 95 92 91 93 88 83 86 80 77 72 72 72
Belarus 89 89 89 90 91 90 98 100 100 100 108 107 85 79 77 74 66 83 70 68
Belgium 131 - - - - 96 94 100 102 106 101 102 105 102 102 100 99 - - -
Bosnia and Herzegovina - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Bulgaria - - - - - - - 100 100 99 90 64 57 58 55 64 62 91 84 70
Canada 92 89 89 88 88 96 96 100 103 103 99 94 94 94 95 95 94 97 97 98
Croatia - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Cyprus - - - - - 100 100 100 113 119 125 106 125 131 131 131 131 131 144 144
Czech Republic 115 100 100 102 103 102 101 100 105 113 91 89 86 70 53 50 53 46 44 43
Denmark 90 79 86 84 88 96 103 100 97 90 90 103 88 88 87 80 92 65 62 -
Finland 102 96 94 91 89 95 96 100 102 105 104 101 98 98 98 90 93 78 78 78
France 112 104 104 101 100 99 99 100 99 109 97 100 98 95 103 102 101 - - -
Germany 108 105 104 107 107 105 105 100 95 88 111 104 95 89 83 80 78 - 88 52
Germany, former GDR 96 96 93 91 94 98 99 100 99 99                    
Greece - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hungary 103 102 101 100 100 99 100 100 97 93 90 77 69 69 71 72 74 87 79 74
Iceland - - 100 100 100 89 94 100 106 106 111 117 122 128 122 128 - 117 111 106
Ireland 63 75 75 74 73 79 87 100 106 110 100 103 109 106 102 100 105 91 91 91
Italy 90 89 89 87 88 89 93 100 102 106 107 110 111 110 99 98 - 89 83 79
Latvia - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Liechtenstein 109 109 108 106 105 103 102 100 100 98 97 94 89 86 83 - - 63 57 -
Lithuania 89 90 91 92 95 97 99 100 101 101 92 97 57 46 45 38 38 64 64 64
Luxembourg - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Malta - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Netherlands 97 96 94 93 96 98 98 100 101 97 97 95 93 89 85 83 84 - 42 55
Norway 83 77 79 81 87 92 99 100 97 98 97 93 92 95 94 95 97 69 - -
Poland 80 - - - - 98 99 100 101 97 84 79 74 73 72 73 75 - - -
Portugal - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Republic of Moldova 82 80 70 59 62 94 101 100 104 99 89 94 55 21 25 34 15 42 49 48
Romania 90 91 89 93 94 93 96 100 102 100 94 80 62 55 55 - - - - -
Russian Federation 65 72 75 74 71 72 71 100 89 96 136 125 117 115 101 97 93 - - -
Slovakia - - - - - - - 100 - 115 - 108 - 93 88 92 66 - - -
Slovenia 89 91 91 89 91 93 102 100 104 102 109 95 96 107 116 118 123 79 67 54
Spain 107 - - 105 - 94 96 100 100 111 132 138 140 137 - - - 100 - -
Sweden 92 95 94 92 94 97 99 100 99 96 77 78 75 74 76 69 69 62 48 46
Switzerland 98 - - - 102 103 102 100 99 98 95 92 88 83 80 78 75 67 63 65
The FYR of Macedonia - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Turkey 65 65 70 74 79 85 93 100 97 109 117 120 126 132 - 162 - 224 288 392
Ukraine 105 105 105 105 101 97 102 100 100 97 100 90 76 64 52 49 43 100 100 100
United Kingdom 96 92 91 92 90 93 96 100 102 104 103 99 96 90 86 80 78 59 49 44
United States 109 108 105 105 109 103 102 100 108 105 104 104 106 107 109 105 103 95 93 93
Yugoslavia 78 83 83 88 97 97 97 100 105 103 110 95 82 90 87 98 95 147 192 245
European Community - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

* Projections based on current reduction plans.