Bundesanstalt Statistik Österreich (Statistics Austria) 

Directorate Spatial Statistics

Guglgasse 13, 1110 Wien

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 dioxide (SO2),

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).

2008 to 2021

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.

Article 17 of the Austrian Federal Statistics Act 2000 regulates the confidentiality of statistics. Article 19 of the Austrian Federal Statistics Act 2000 specifies rules for publication of statistics. According to it statistics shall be published in a manner that prevents any connection being made with statements concerning specific or identifiable data subjects unless the data subject concerned has no interest warranting protection in his/her data remaining confidential. In the event such connections cannot be ruled out, publication is subject to the explicit prior written consent of the data subject involved.

AEA is an accounting system that makes use of already processed and anonymised data deriving from primary statistics. Only in case of NACE 07 and 08 (Mining of metal ores , other mining and quarrying ) on national level confidentiality is an issue. Data derive from short term business statistics flagged confidential according to the following rules: Aggregates have to be flagged confidential if data refer to less than 3 statistical units (primary confidentiality). If a company proves dominance in a specific aggregate, the cells of the table might be closed, even if there are more than 3 contributing units.

All data is available and published in t+21.

Usually the release date is around October 10 each year.

The release date for the AEA press release is publicly available in the release calendar: https://www.statistik.at/en/medien/release-calendar

Results are disseminated to all users at the same time. Standard tables are free access – more detailed tables and special reports are with costs.

Data are disseminated annually.

There is an annual press release on AEA. Published around October 10.

Results are published in the following Statistics Austria publication media:

Statistics Austria website – Environment, Statistische Nachrichten (in German only), Statistisches Jahrbuch Österreichs (contents and headings in English, otherwise in German only).

The results are also forwarded to the contracting entity in the form of a project report – which is also published at the webpage.

The AEA data are disseminated in the Statistics Austria Database STATcube in full scope.

There is no data available on data table consultations.

not applicable

Data are sent to Eurostat to be released as national data and to be used in European aggregates.

At national level data are used in the integrated NAMEA and the material flow accounts. Within this publication an overview on the compilation concepts is given and furthermore the reference to AEA project report where the guidelines are given in detail.

Will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT.

Metadata about methodology and quality is available in every paper and electronic publication. The most detailed documentation on methodology and quality is the standard documentation on integrated NAMEA which is released on Statistics Austria's website. 

Will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT.

Quality documentation is included in chapter 3 of the standard documentation.

Statistics Austria is committed to ensuring the highest quality with respect to the compilation of statistical information. In accordance with the Federal Statistics Act (Article 24), Statistics Austria has to use statistical methods and processes in compliance with internationally recognised scientific principles and standards, conduct ongoing analyses of the statistics with a view to quality improvements and ensure that statistics are as up-to-date as possible. This commitment to quality is also specified in Statistics Austria’s mission statement. In adopting the European Statistics Code of Practice, Statistics Austria has committed to adhering to principles and standards for the production and dissemination of high-quality statistics. As part of the European Statistical System (ESS), Statistics Austria recognises the Quality Declaration of the ESS. The Statistics Council has set up a Quality Assurance Committee, a primary focus of which is the ongoing examination of potential quality improvements

Statistics Austria uses standard-documentation to provide users with information about the underlying concepts, definitions, methods used and the quality of the statistics (meta-information) in a standardised format.

In cooperation with the Statistic Committee’s Quality Assurance Committee, feedback meetings concerning the quality of the different statistical products are held regularly within the framework of Statistics Austria’s quality management programme. In addition internal quality audits are carried out by the quality management team. The content and objectives concern critical examination of the quality aspects of statistics with particular consideration of the methods and processes used; identification of quality improvement potential; development of recommendations for improvement measures; and improvement of the standard documentation relating to the statistics in question, with special attention to the views of users and external experts.

Main users at the national level are federal ministries, e.g. Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK), federal chancellery, interest groups, University and non-university research institutes, e.g. Eco Austria, university of natural resources and life sciences (BOKU), students.

Main international users are Eurostat, the OECD and the UN.

Currently no satisfaction survey for environmental accounts is undertaken, but in cooperation with the Statistic Committee’s Quality Assurance Committee, feedback meetings concerning the quality of the different statistical products on the basis of the standard documentation are held regularly within the framework of Statistics Austria’s quality management programme. In these feedback meetings special attention is given to the views of users and external experts.

Additionally every two years the Advisory council for the environment gathers for a meeting. Results from ongoing work in environmental accounts is presented and discussed among experts.

The dataset is complete. A higher level of detail (NACE categories breakdown) would be desireable but is not possible at the moment due to missing input data.

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.

T+21

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

There is no time lag betwen the delivery and the target date (for national publication as well as for the delivery to EUROSTAT).

Will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT.

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

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

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

Coherence with Air Emission Inventory: 

AEA considers only emissions caused by persons living in Austria as well as enterprises and institutions registered in Austria. In contrast to this, the Environment Agency Austria compiles – within the framework of international reporting obligations (UNFCCC, UNECE CLRTAP) – the Austrian Air Emission Inventory, where air emissions are reported that are caused in Austria, independently of the polluters´ origin.

Not applicable, because AEA data are annual.

The reported AEA data is consistent with ESA.

The outputs are internally consistent.

Reg. (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics stipulates cost effectiveness as statistical principle; however, there is no legal obligation to provide cost and burden information in quality reports. Such an obligation is also not covered by sectoral legislation. Due to the fact that consistent standards and definitions for cost reporting are currently not available and are yet to be developed by the RDG-expert group there is a high risk of misrepresentation and distortions when comparing costs of statistics production across countries. Statistics Austria will, hence, not provide any cost information until agreed harmonised reporting standards are in place.

Explanations valid for all emissions from 2013 on: 

For all NACE and households: With the introduction of PEFA we had data available not only on the consumption of motor gasoline, diesel and gaseous fuels but also on liquid biofuels. 

Bridging items: In accordance with PEFA it was possible to report bridging items for international land transport in more detail than in previous years.

Bridging items air transport and H51: For CO2 the OECD data on CO2 emissions of air transport is used and due to the lack of data for the rest of the emissions a breakdown of the CO2 emissions is applied. As the OECD database has data available from 2013 on, Austria used statistical backcasting to compute the data for the years 2008 to 2012.

Bridging items water transport and H50: Fuel consumption data and data on tonne-kilometers on the Austrian waterways are used to calculate the time series for H50 as well es the bridging items for water transport.

The revision policy of Statistics Austria is explained in the link below.

AEA is dependent on basic statistics. In case there are revisions in basic statistics they are performed in AEA as well. Usually the whole time series is revised in order to avoid breaks.
E.g.: With the introduction of PEFA we had data available not only on the consumption of motor gasoline, diesel and gaseous fuels but also on liquid biofuels. This improvement in data quality led to sufficient changes in the series from 2013 on. Moreover in accordance with PEFA it was possible to report bridging items for international land and air transport as well as water transport in more detail than in previous years.

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

Structural Business Data - persons employed per NACE: administrative data source

Useful Energy Analysis - survey data (details on sample size etc. see quality repot URL)

Emission Inventory - uses various data sources (for details see NIR URL)

PEFA - uses various data sources (quality report will be published soon)

Energy Accounts - uses various data sources (quality report will be published soon)

Energy balances and energy transformation balance - uses various data sources (see quality report URL)

Motor vehicle statistics - administrative data (see quality report URL)

Supply and Use Tables - uses various data sources (see quality report URL)

Housing Statistics - uses various data sources (see quality report URL)

Eco taxes - administrative data (see quality report URL)

UNFCCC / UNECE CLRTAP data: compilation of national data

OECD Air Transport Emissions

Annually.

No surveys conducted in AEA.

The results from the basic statistics for the whole data series are compared with the previous year. In case of deviations that are not explained in the publications the compilers of the statistics are contacted. The same is true if there is no obvious reason for a deviation for the reporting year.

The inventory-first approach is used, for more details see 18.5.3

Not applicable.

•          0701-0705   Emissions from road and offroad vehicles: Traffic emissions must be adjusted to the rules of the "residence concept". It is based on the consumption of motor gasoline, diesel, natural gas, liquified petroleum gas and liquid biofuels (biodiesel, bioethanol and other liquid biofuels) from PEFA with additional information from national energy accounts (from 2013 on). This represents the consumption that can be assigned to domestic institutional units. To these values the differences are added from energy balances minus energy accounts/PEFA. These are those amounts that cannot be assigned to domestic institutional units. Starting with 2013 and in accordance with PEFA bridging items for international land and air transport are reported in more detail than in previous years. Based on freight road statistics and information on travel preferences by residents, fuel use that cannot be assigned to domestic institutional residents is differentiated into fuel that is used by national residents abroad and fuel that is used by non-residents on the territory. The percentage breakdown thus derived is used to assign the road transport emissions from the AAPI to domestic institutional units and to the two bridging items “land transport by residents abroad” and “land transport non-residents on the territory”.

From the reporting period 2019 on, the emissions of off-road vehicles in the agriculture, household and building sector as well as those for military use are assigned with the vehicles emissions as well and not further directly assigned to the respective NACE codes. The reason is, that the base surveys do not differentiate between road and off-road fuel consumption. 

•          0706   Fuel evaporation: The emissions from fuel evaporation are assigned to domestic institutional units with the same percentage breakdown as petrol.

•          0707   Attrition from tyres and brakes: There is no precise data for attrition from tyres and brakes, which is why the assignment is made based on the vehicle population with no consideration of vehicle type or driving behaviour. 

for road transport see 18.5.3.

Air transport:

2008 onwards: Due to the lack of data concerning flights of resident airlines abroad the OECD data on air transport CO2 emissions is used. This data provides an accurate picture of the emissions of resident airlines abroad. For the other emissions a breakdown of the CO2 emissions is used.
To be able to deliver a full time series backcasting methods were used to compute the data back to 2008.

 Water transport: Data on tonne-kilometres from freight transport on inland waterways statistics and emission factors were used to calculate H50 as well as the bridging items related to water transport.

There is no need for data modification.

Not applicable.