Diffuse emissions

The E-PRTR Regulation (Regulation 166/2006) requires to include in the E-PRTR releases of pollutants from diffuse sources referred to in Article 8(1), where available.

As defined by Article 2 of the Regulation, diffuse sources are "the many smaller or scattered sources from which pollutants may be released to land, air or water, whose combined impact on those media may be significant and for which it is impractical to collect reports from each individual source".

Assessing and reporting of such sources has been problematic since the very beginning. The EEA managed to establish a methodology to perform a one time assessment of diffuse air releases (2009) and water releases (2013). More information is available in the download page.

In 2024, the EEA published an updated version of the diffuse releases into air by using a new approach based on point data reported under the E-PRTR Regulation and emissions assessed by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS).

Diffuse emissions are provided at regional level (NUTS3 region): they inform on pollutant emissions estimated by CAMS non-point source activities over a specific area. They also include emissions that are not captured by the E-PRTR because below the reporting thresholds. For more information on the methodology please see Kuenen et al. (2022).

How to read the data

Data are displayed for 6 sectors, 7 main air pollutants and 2 greenhouse gases. Sectors are displayed according to the EEA sectors as defined in the EEA's Mapping of nomenclatures relevant to emission reporting. Data are referring to year 2021.

• Sectors: Energy supply; Manufacturing and extractive industry; Residential, commercial & institutional; Transport; Waste and Other.
• Main air pollutants: Nitrogen oxides (NO_X); Carbon monoxide (CO); Non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC); Sulphur oxides (SO_X); Ammonia (NH3); Particulate matter (PM₁₀) and Fine particulate matter (PM_2.5).
• Greenhouse gases: Methane (CH₄) and Carbon dioxide (CO₂)