National statistical institute of Bulgaria

Environmental and Energy accounts Department

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).

2008-2021

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.

Law on Statistics;

· Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Individual data are not published in accordance with article 25 of the Law on Statistics. The publishing of individual data can be performed only in accordance with article 26 of the same law.

Data are not published

Data are not published

Data are not published

Data are disseminated annually.

Data are not published

Data are not published

Data are not published

Data are not published

Data are not published

Data are not published

Data are not published

Data are not published

Data are not published

Data are not published

European Statistics Code of Practice;

· A common framework for quality management in the National Statistical System

A common framework for quality management in the National Statistical System

Data are not published

Data are not published

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

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 are not published

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Data are not published

Data are not published

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 applicable

Not applicable, because AEA data are annual.

Not applicable

Not applicable

There is no burden on the respondents. 4 experts with 60 working days for each participate.

Revision of the data is applied if necessary.

See previous position.

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

Annually

The institution responsible for the country reports is the Executive Environmental Agency (ExEA). As some additional adjustments may be done by ExEA, the officially reported emissions for economical sectors are disaggregated back to A64 level by using the data from the statistical survey as weights. This approach is possible, because the raw data from the air emissions survey include both SNAP and NACE Rev. 2 codes. The same weights by A64 are used for disaggregation of the emissions reported to UNFCCC

Comparing the data to those reported in previous years.

Data are revised according to the data from of the last Bulgarian reports to UNFCCC and CLRTAP. There aren’t any changes in the methodology or the sources

Not applicable.

The institution responsible for the country reports is the Executive Environmental Agency (ExEA). As some additional adjustments may be done by ExEA, the officially reported emissions for economical sectors are disaggregated back to A64 level by using the data from the statistical survey as weights. This approach is possible, because the raw data from the air emissions survey include both SNAP and NACE Rev. 2 codes. The same weights by A64 are used for disaggregation of the emissions reported to UNFCCC

The transport air emissions from official country reports are distributed proportionally to the fuel consumption by NACE sectors and households. The fuel consumption data are provided by the energy statistics.

Not applicable

Not applicable.