National Statistics Office

Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries Statistics Unit

National Statistics Office (NSO), Lascaris, Valletta, VLT2000, Malta

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).

Data is made available for 1995-2021.

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 the national level.

At the National level:

The NSO requests information for the compilation of official statistics according to the articles of the Malta Statistics Authority (MSA) Act – Cap. 422 (https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/422/eng/pdf) and the Data Protection Act – Cap. 586 (https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/586/eng/pdf) of the Laws of Malta implementing the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

Article 40 of the MSA Act stipulates the restrictions on the use of information while Article 41 stipulates the prohibition of disclosure of information. Furthermore, Section IX of the Act (Offences and Penalties) lays down the measures to be taken in case of unlawful exercise of any officer of statistics regarding confidentiality of data.

Since its inception, the NSO has always assured that all data collected remains confidential and that it is used for statistical purposes only according to the articles and derogations stipulated in the laws quoted above. The Office is obliged to protect the identity of data providers and refrain from divulging any data to third parties that might lead to the identification of persons or entities.

In 2009, the NSO has set up a Statistical Disclosure Committee to ensure that statistical confidentiality is observed, especially when requests for microdata are received.

Upon employment, all NSO employees are informed of the rules and duties pertaining to confidential information and its treatment. In line with stipulations of the MSA Act, before commencing work, every employee is required to take an oath of secrecy whose text is included in the same Act.

An internal policy on anonymisation and pseudo-anonymisation is in place to ascertain that adequate methods are used for the protection of data that the office collects and shares with the public in its capacity as the National Statistics Office. The policy is meant to safeguard the confidentiality of both personal and business data entrusted to the NSO. The document provides guidance for all NSO employees who process data on a daily basis as to how anonymisation and pseudo-anonymisation methods should be applied. The policy applies to all confidential, restricted and internal information, regardless of form (paper or electronic documents, applications and databases) that is received, processed, stored and disseminated by the NSO.

AEA data tables do not include confidential data.

Data is not yet published. 

Data is not yet published.

Data is not yet published.

Data is not disseminated on a country level, it is only sent to Eurostat annually. 

Data is not yet published.

Data is not yet published.

Data is not yet published.

Not applicable 

Data is not yet published.

Data is not yet published.

Not applicable 

Not applicable 

Not applicable 

Not applicable 

Malta estimates follow the Eurostat Manual for air emissions accounts, 2015 edition. A quality assurance approach comprises checks of the source data from the national entities that compile UNFCCC and CLRTAP inventories and consultation with the inventory compilers, assessments of the results and methodology applied, and external consultation (validation of the preliminary result by Eurostat).

Input data has been regularly checked during the compilation process, questioned, and verified with both the national compilers of the Greenhouse gases and air pollutants inventories and also with the statisticians working at NSO. For this year's questionnaire the estimates related to emissions arising from road-going vehicles has been improved through the use of the Fuel Survey data. This data source improved the estimation of emissions from road transport since actual activity data was used to distribute the emissions reported in the inventories. This exercises has also benefitted the newly-added voluntary modules in which "of which road transport" emissions were required to be reported, which Malta has satisfid for all 5 items available (CO2, NOX, NMVOC, PM10 and PM2.5).

The users of the above-mentioned statistical data can range from the media at one end, to the general public, policy-makers, academics, international organizations, and the same data suppliers at the other end.

No survey has been conducted on customer satisfaction on the topic.

Under Regulation (EU) No 691/2011, the years 2009-2021 are mandatory. Malta completed the AEA questionnaire that covers the years 1995-2021. Some variables were reported as provisional: NACE H51 (Water transport) and bridging items related to water transport.

Malta has also completed the voluntary "of which road transport" modules for all 5 items available (CO2, NOX, NMVOC, PM10 and PM2.5).

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

The main source data providers for the air emissions accounts are the two national entities responsible for the emissions National Inventories (NI): the Malta Resources Authority (MRA) and the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA).

The NI data collected is validated further with various NSO statistics, mainly various energy statistics, the Physical Energy Flow accounts (PEFA), National Accounts data, including supply and use (SUT) tables, fuel uplift, and local fuel sales data. As described under section 11.2, road transport emissions were significantly improved through the use of fuel consumption data. Furthermore, there were revisions in the main when compared to the data provided for the previous year's submission. These revisions are standard and arise from improvements in the methodologies applied in the national inventory reporting process.

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.

Processing errors have been minimised by introducing into the working set-up several validation checks. The process is still in progress, following changes in the source data.

Not applicable.

AEA data is transmitted to Eurostat at t+21 months. Malta transmitted the time series 1995-2021 of the data to Eurostat on 01.09.2023.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

AEA data is submitted to Eurostat without delays respecting Eurostat's official deadline of 30th September.

Not applicable.

AEA data is coherent with the National Inventories of Greenhouse Gases and Air Pollutants (as reported under UNFCCC and CRLTAP conventions).

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

Not applicable.

The break-in series points of excessive annual changes were validated by the Greenhouse Gases and Air Pollutants reporting. There are plausible for small economies.

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

AEA follows Physical Energy Flow Accounts (PEFA) developments.

Not applicable, because AEA data are annual.

AEA follows National Accounts NACE rev.2 industry distribution.  

AEA estimates were based and validated with Physical Energy Flow Accounts (PEFA) and various energy statistics. 

NSO’s work to produce air emission accounts is equivalent to 0.5 FTE.

At the NSO, there is currently no internal policy governing revisions that occur for all statistics produced. Nonetheless, a revisions policy is being drafted to safeguard a coordinated revisions system across statistical domains. This policy will take account of the need and causes for revisions; time and frequency of revisions; data and other statistical products affected by such revisions; and length of periods revised.

The data submitted this year includes revisions of the emissions of both greenhouse gases and pollutants with respect to the previous year's submission, due to changes in methodology, described below, as well as revisions in the main data sources.

For this year's questionnaire the estimates related to emissions arising from road-going vehicles has been improved through the use of the Fuel Survey data. This data source improved the estimation of emissions from road transport since actual activity data was used to distribute the emissions reported in the inventories. This exercises has also benefitted the newly-added voluntary modules in which "of which road transport" emissions were required to be reported, which Malta has satisfid for all 5 items available (CO2, NOX, NMVOC, PM10 and PM2.5).

Supply and Use Tables for reference year 2017 were made available hence implying revisions in emissions from 2017 onwards.

Furthermore, the data should be considered as provisional.

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

 Main data sources are:

-        Energy balance,

-        Physical energy flow accounts (PEFA),

-        Fuel Survey,

-        Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollutant National Inventory (reported to UNFCCC/CLRTAP),

-        Supply and use tables.

Annual data

Official administrative data of UNFCCC and CLRTAP inventories are provided by the Malta Resources Authority (MRA) and the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA). Energy statistics and national accounts data are requested from internal Units within NSO.

During the compilation process, NI data is verified with the energy statistics data. Various checks include trends analysis, growth rate verifications, and error identifications.

Malta uses an inventory-first compilation approach.

Data is provided by the national entities responsible for the NI. Each entry of the GHG and air pollutants is validated with the NI reports and additional requests. Further analysis is carried out by using NSO internal data mainly from national accounts and energy statistics. This process results in the subdivision of the emissions by households and NACE activities. 

2023 data collection includes revisions with respect to the previous year's submission. The revisions are mainly due to changes in methodology as well as revisions in source data.

The final step includes the preparation of the official AEA questionnaire.

Not applicable.

For the allocation, Malta uses the correspondence between CRF, NFR, and NACE rev.2, presented in Annex I of the AEA Manual (2015 edition). Some NACE distribution is straightforward given in the source data, i.e. National Inventories. The NI official reports as well as meetings with the compilers of the Inventories provide further information on the range of activities with emissions. These are further validated with the energy statistics, PEFA, and supply and use (SUT) tables. Estimates are established at NACE 2-digit level and finally reported at A*64. 

We allocate road transport emissions by using information from the survey on fuel consumption in the Economic Sectors. The survey is conducted by the NSO together with the Energy and Water Agency (EWA). The result is further supported by the SUT NACE breakdown and specific information from the main corporation under NACEs D35 (Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply) and H51 (Air transport).

The NI data, which is based on the territory principle, was adjusted to the residency principle by using PEFA estimates presented in Table E with energy balance data. The NI emissions were split between the non-residents and residents of the Malta territory. Additional estimates were created for the resident outside Malta territory. This approach applies to land transport and air transport.

As for water transport, Malta has not provided estimates in PEFA table E. For the 2023 data collection, we provided a provisional estimate for non-residents on Malta territory. It represents the international bunkers navigation reported in the GHG Inventories. It is assumed that the majority of these emissions belong to non-residents.

Not applicable 

Not applicable.

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