UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) is one of five regional commissions of the UN. It brings together 56 countries and its major aim is to promote pan-European economic integration. The UNECE region covers more than 47 million km2 and is home to about 17% of the world's population. UNECE negotiated five environmental treaties, including the Air Convention (CLRTAP).
The Air Convention (LRTAP Convention) entered into force 1983. The Convention, which has 51 Parties, was the first international legally binding instrument to deal with air pollution on a regional basis. The aim of the Convention is that Parties shall endeavor to limit and, as far as possible, gradually reduce and prevent air pollution including long-range transboundary air pollution by developing policies and strategies to combat the discharge of air pollutants through exchanges of information, consultation, research and monitoring.
The Convention has been extended by eight protocols (1985 - 1999), which identify specific measures to be taken by Parties to cut their emissions of air pollutants. Protocols that have been amended since 2000 are: the Gothenburg Protocol (2012), the Protocol on Heavy Metals (2012) and the Protocol on POPs (2009).
The WGSR (Working group on Strategies and Review) is the principal negotiating body for the Convention.
The EMEP (European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme) is a scientifically based and policy driven programme under the Air Convention for international collaboration of a broad network of scientists and national experts to solve transboundary air pollution problems. The EMEP provides scientific support to the Air Convention on:
- Atmospheric monitoring and modeling
- Emission inventories and emission projections
- Integrated assessment modeling
The EMEP Steering Body is the supervisory body to the EMEP programme. Five EMEP Centers (CCC, CEIP, CIAM, MSCw, MSCe) and four Task Forces (TFEIP, TFIAM, TFMM, TFHTAP) undertake efforts in support of the EMEP work plan.
The TFEIP (Task Force on Emission Inventories and Projections) supports Parties in the reporting of air emissions and projections to the Convention by providing a technical forum and expert network to identify problems and establish methodologies to estimate emissions .
The National Emissions reduction Commitments (NEC) Directive (2016/2284/EU) entered into force on 31 December 2016 (replacing earlier legislation; Directive 2001/81/EC). The NEC Directive sets 2020 and 2030 emission reduction commitments for five main air pollutants.
The GAINS Model explores cost-effective emission control strategies that simultaneously tackle local air quality and greenhouse gases so as to maximize benefits at all scales.
The European Environment Agency (EEA) is an agency of the European Union. Together with the Eionet network, the EEA provides the knowledge and the data needed to achieve sustainability in Europe.
The joint EMEP/EEA air pollutant emission inventory guidebook supports the reporting of emissions data under the Air Convention and the EU National Emission Ceilings Directive.
The European Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET) is a partnership network of 38 member and cooperating countries for networking, information sharing and collection of environmental data.
The Arctic Council is the leading intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic States, Arctic indigenous communities and other Arctic inhabitants on common Arctic issues, in particular on issues of sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic.
The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) is one of six Working Groups of the Arctic Council. CEIP, hosted by the Environment Agency Austria, cooperated with AMAP on the assessement of black carbon emissions / reporting and also contributed to the following reports:
- Review of Reporting Systems for National Black Carbon Emissions Inventories: EU Action on Black Carbon in the Arctic
- EUA-BCA Policy landscape report – Summary
- Digital roadmap
UNFCCC - GHG data from UNFCCC
The Minamata Convention on Mercury is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury. It entered into force on 16 August 2017.
ESIG (European Solvent Industry Group) provides solvent VOC emission inventories.