Statistics Finland

Economic and Environmental Statistics

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).

Years from 2008 onwards.

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 data collected for statistical purposes are confidential. When processing data, it is seen to that no person's privacy or business or professional secret is endangered. Statistics and research results are released as summaries, tables and graphs. The answers of individual persons or enterprises cannot be identified from them. This is regulated by the Statistics Act (http://www.tilastokeskus.fi/meta/lait/2013_tilastolaki_en.pdf).

The data is aggregated to a level where individual person or enterprises can't be identified.

Data was nationally published 29.09.2023 at https://stat.fi/en/statistics/tilma

https://stat.fi/en/statistics/tilma

Data is nationally published at https://stat.fi/en/statistics/tilma

Data are disseminated annually.

Not available.

https://stat.fi/en/statistics/tilma

https://stat.fi/en/statistics/tilma

Not available.

Not available.

Not available.

Not available.

Not available.

Not applicable.

https://www.stat.fi/en/statistics/documentation/tilma

Data is compared to the GHG inventory UNFCCC and CLRTAP reports, as well as to the National accounts data for the relevant parts.

Data is in line with the GHG inventory UNFCCC and CLRTAP reports, as well as with the National accounts data for the relevant parts.

Not available.

Not available.

All relevant data is available

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 is release T+21 months after end of reference year.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Data is release T+21 months after end of reference year.

Not applicable.

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

Not applicable.

There are no breaks in time series.

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

Data is consistent with the GHG inventory UNFCCC and CLRTAP reports, as well as with the National accounts data for the relevant parts.

Not applicable, because AEA data are annual.

The data is consistent with National Accounts.

The data is internally consistent.

0,5 full time equivalents

The data is revised yearly when new data set is produced. The revisions follow the revisions of source data (such as GHG inventory or CLRTAP inventory and National accounts SUT). The revisions are usually more common for the most recent years. Occasionally the revisions are caused by changes/improvements to the methodology of the compilation in which case the whole time series is updated.

The revisions follow the revisions of source data (such as GHG inventory or CLRTAP inventory and National accounts SUT). Revisions to most recent years in National accounts SUT usually leads to revisions in allocation of road transport fuel use and allocation of commercial and public service sector building heating emissions.

Allocation of F-gases to industries has been revised for years 2015 and onwards. Previously same allocation key was used to allocate total f-gas emissions to industries. Now a specific key from new microdata is calculated for each year, starting from year 2015.

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

The main data sources used are the GHG inventory reported to UNFCCC and the CLRTAP inventory. For more detailed data, EU ETS and national environment permit registery are used. To allocate road transport emissions and commercial/public service sector space heating emissions, National accounts supply and use tables are used. For calculating bridging items, Customs data, transport statistics and tourism statistics are used.

Data is collected annually.

Data used is received from other statistics and other statistical institutions. No specific data collection or surveys are done for AEA.

The data is checked for significant revisions or yearly changes. Notable changes are traced back to source data and the plausibility is checked. Final data is compared to GHG and CLRTAP inventories and the consistency is checked.

Inventory first approach is used for compilation,

Not applicable.

The main data sources used are the GHG inventory reported to UNFCCC and the CLRTAP inventory. For more detailed data, EU ETS and national environment permit registery are used. To allocate road transport emissions and commercial/public service sector space heating emissions, National accounts supply and use tables are used.

Road transport emissions are allocated with National accounts monetary supply and use tables. Monetary data from fuel use (gasoline and diesel) is used to derive allocation keys for fuels. Allocation keys are used to allocate the total emissions from emission inventories.

Air transport & Water transport:

National residents abroad:

Fuels bunkered to national crafts abroad: Data on fuels bunkered to national crafts abroad is obtained from International trade in goods and services statistics. An entry called "Goods procured in ports by carriers" is estimated to contain the monetary value of fuels bunkered to resident ships abroad. This value is further converted to physical units with price information, and then further to emissions with an emission factor. The ratios between different fuels is estimated to be the same is in the fuels bunkered in finnish territory.

Fuels bunkered to national crafts in the territory (heading to international transport): This is calculated with data regarding bunkering from emission inventories and energy statistics, and Customs data. Fuels bunkered to non-national craft in the territory is estimated from the Customs data CN code 99302700, which is the monetary value of fuels exported (bunkered) to foreign crafts. This value is further converted to physical units with price information, and is then substracted from the total of fuels bunkered in the territory. The rest of bunkered fuels are allocated to residents units, and is then further converted to emissions via emission factors.

Non-residents on the territory:

These emission are estimated to be zero.

Exactly the same calculation methodology is applied to both air and water transport emissions.

Land transport:

By nace H49:

Residents abroad: Road transport statistics and Public transport statistics are used to estimate the mileage of international freight and bus transport. Emissions from the mileage is calculated with the average emission from similar national transport. As these statistics cover transport in the EU, expert estimations are used for transport to and from Russia.

Non-residents on the territory: Same data set is used as for the residents abroad.

By Households:

Residents abroad: Travel statistics are used to estimate the mileage of households abroad, based on the quantity, lenght and destination of the leisure trips with private cars. Emissions are calculated from the average emission per kilometre.

Non-residents on the territory: Private cars operated by non-resident households in the territory are calculated from expert estimations.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.