Central Statistics Office, Ireland

Environment and Climate Division

Central Statistics Office,

Ardee Road,

Rathmines,

Dublin 6,

D06 FX52

Ireland

Air emissions accounts (AEA) record flows of gaseous and particulate materials emitted into the atmosphere as a result of economic activity.

AEA are a subset of environmental-economic accounts. They offer a detailed breakdown for 64 emitting economic activities (NACE), plus households, as defined in the national accounts of EU countries. They are aligned with economic statistics and GDP. These features make them suitable for integrated environmental-economic analyses and modelling – for example of 'carbon footprints' and climate-change modelling scenarios.

National Statistical Institutes (NSI) submit AEA to Eurostat through a mandatory annual data collection. The data collection includes an electronic questionnaire and this quality report.

The AEA dataset has the following dimensions:

1)           Air pollutant: Emissions to air of the following gaseous and particulate substances are collected (greenhouse gases, air pollutants):

Carbon dioxide without emissions from biomass (CO2),

Carbon dioxide from biomass (Biomass CO2)*,

Nitrous oxide (N2O), Methane (CH4),

Perfluorocarbons (PFCs),

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs),

Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) including nitrogen trifluoride (NF3),

Nitrogen oxides (NOx),

Non-methane volatile organic compounds, (NMVOC),

Carbon monoxide (CO),

Particulate matter < 10μm (PM10),

Particulate matter < 2,5μm (PM2,5),

Sulphur oxides (SOx),

Ammonia (NH3)

2)           Geopolitical entity: EU Member States, EFTA Countries, Candidate Countries etc.

3)           Economic activities: include 64 production activities (classified by NACE rev.2 A*64), and households’ consumption (3 sub-classes).

4)           Time: reference year for which air emissions are reported

5)           Unit: tonnes and thousand tonnes

The data refer to national economies as defined in the system of national accounts. Greenhouse gases and air pollutants emitted by resident units representing the national economy are covered.

Conceptually AEA belong to the international system of environmental economic accounting (SEEA-Central Framework). Furthermore, AEA is one of several physical modules of Eurostat's programme on European environmental economic accounts. It is covered by Regulation (EU) No.691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts.

AEA are closely related to concepts and definitions of national accounts. Most notably, they follow the residence principle, i.e. they record emissions related to resident unit's activities, regardless where those occur geographically.

Further methodological guidelines are provided in various publications by Eurostat (see Eurostat website > Environment > Methodology, heading: 'Air emissions accounts').

Data refer to emissions by resident economic units in the sense of SEEA CF 2012 and National Accounts (ESA), including households.

The national economy is as defined in SEEA CF 2012 and National Accounts (ESA), i.e. all economic activities undertaken by resident units.

The reference area is the economic territory as defined in SEEA CF 2012 and National Accounts (ESA). A unit is said to be a resident unit of a country when it has a centre of economic interest in the economic territory of that country, that is, when it engages for an extended period (1 year or more) in economic activities in that territory.

By following this residence principle, the Air Emission Accounts record emissions from resident units' activities, regardless where they occur. This is the main conceptual difference to emission inventories for greenhouse gases (UNFCCC) and air pollutants (CLRTAP).

Data are provided for Ireland for 2009-2022.

Not applicable because AEA are not reported as indices.

The unit of measure is tonnes or thousand tonnes.

F-gases (HFC, PFC, SF₆ and NF₃) are reported in tonnes of CO₂ equivalents.

SO_X are reported in tonnes of SO₂ equivalents, and NO_X are reported in tonnes of NO₂ equivalents.

The data refer to calendar years.

Air emissions accounts (AEA) are legally covered by Regulation (EU) 691/2011on European Environmental Economic Accounts.

Not applicable at national level.

All information supplied to the CSO is treated as strictly confidential. The Statistics Act, 1993 (http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1993/act/21/enacted/en/html) sets stringent confidentiality standards: Information collected may be used only for statistical purposes, and no details that might be related to an identifiable person or business undertaking may be divulged to any other government department or body.

These national statistical confidentiality provisions are reinforced by the following EU legislation: Council Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics for data collected for EU statistical purposes. Further details are outlined in the CSO's Code of Practice on Statistical Confidentiality.

For more information on the CSO confidentiality policy please visit: https://www.cso.ie/en/aboutus/lgdp/csodatapolicies/statisticalconfidentiality/

There are no confidentiality issues arising in the reported data.

The national Air Emissions Accounts statistical release is published annually at the end of October. The CSO release calendar is available publicly at the following link: https://www.cso.ie/en/csolatestnews/releasecalendar/

https://www.cso.ie/en/csolatestnews/releasecalendar/

The release is published on the CSO homepage: www.cso.ie

Data are disseminated annually.

The Air Emissions Accounts relase is published annually on the CSO website. It is not usually accompanied by a press release.

The Air Emissions Accounts relase is published annually on the CSO website.

The data are published in PxStat, the CSO's main data dissemination service. PxStat can be found at the following link: https://www.cso.ie/en/databases/

Not available.

Micro-data are not disseminated.

Not applicable.

Not known.

CSO Air Emissions Accounts Methods page: https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/environment/airemissions/

Not known.

National quality reports are published alongside the national release and can be found at the following link: https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/environment/airemissions/

Information on CSO Statistical Standards and Quality can be found at the following links: https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/quality/statisticalstandardsandquality/

https://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/releasespublications/documents/corporatepublications/standardsguidelinesqualityinstatistics.pdf

Quality Management Framework: https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/quality/qualitymanagementframework/

The reported data are generally considered to be of good quality. The primary data are the national Emissions Inventories (compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency). The main data sources used for NACE/Household disaggregation of the emissions inventories are the CSO Business Energy Use survey, the national Energy Balances and CSO Transport Statistics. Thus the data used for NACE disaggregation are all official statistics underpinned by detailed methodological guidance and high standards of quality at all stages of the statistical process.

Validation procedures and quality reporting are in place. improvements in the coming years are possible, in particular in relation to bridging items.

Principal external users are government, policy-makers, environment sector, business, national media, and general public. Background notes are provided with each release, along with a quality report and other methodological information.

Not available.

Not applicable.

Not applicable; To ensure comparability, this will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT in the European quality report using a standardised method.

See Annex 1.

Not applicable because data are not based on a sample survey.

Not applicable because data are not based on a sample survey.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Data for provided to Eurostat at 21 months after the reference year. Data are published nationally 20 months after the reference year.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Data were provided to Eurostat 5 days in advance of the deadline in 2023.

Data were provided to Eurostat 5 days in advance of the deadline in 2023.

AEA are compiled according to harmonised guidelines provided by Eurostat and hence comparable across European countries reporting AEA to Eurostat.

Not applicable.

See Annex 2.

Not applicable; To ensure comparability, this will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT in the European quality report using a standardised method.

Not available.

Not applicable, because AEA data are annual.

A residence adjustment is carried out on the air emissions data for road transport and air transport in order to attain coherence with national accounts.

The data are internally consistent.

0.25 FTE

https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/quality/treatmentofrevisions/csogeneralrevisionspolicy/

The most up-to-date data on transport and non-transport fuel use by NACE (CSO Business Energy Use survey 2021) were incorporated for NACE disaggregation.

Not applicable; To ensure comparability, this will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT in the European quality report using a standardised method.

The data sources are the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) national emissions inventories which are submitted annually under the UNFCCC and the CLRTAP.

Data are collected annually.

The AEA is not based on a survey. The data used by the CSO are the national emissions inventories compiled by Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency. However other data sources are used in order to assign emissions to NACE codes. These data sources include the CSO Business Energy Use Survey, the national Energy Balances, and CSO Transport Statistics. All are collected annually.

Data are not collected using a survey. The national emissions inventories are validated by the EPA.

See following sections.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.