Back to top
Eurostat logo
Reference metadata Information message

Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.

For more information, please consult our metadata website section.

Close

Air emissions from the ICT sector

DownloadPrint

Reference Metadata in Euro SDMX Metadata Structure (ESMS)

Compiling agency: Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

Need help? Contact the Eurostat user support

Eurostat Quality Profile

Quality concept Rating
Source data

EUROSTAT: Air emissions accounts by NACE Rev. 2 activity [env_ac_ainah_r2] and Structural Business Statistics (SBS).
Frequency of dissemination Every year
Timeliness T+2 years
Reference area All EU MS
Comparability - geographical All EU MS
Coverage - Time 5 to 10 years
Comparability - over time > 4 data points
Eurostat quality grading system

1.1. Contact organisation

Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

1.2. Contact organisation unit

[4D1_02] Eurostat - Innovation and digital transformation

1.3. Contact name

Confidential because of GDPR

1.4. Contact person function

Confidential because of GDPR

1.5. Contact mail address

2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG

1.6. Contact email address

Confidential because of GDPR

1.7. Contact phone number

Confidential because of GDPR

1.8. Contact fax number

Confidential because of GDPR

2.1. Metadata last certified

28 August 2025

2.2. Metadata last posted

28 August 2025

2.3. Metadata last update

12 January 2026

Digitalisation brings changes not only to people’s lives but also to the environment. The EU’s digital strategy aims to make this transformation work for people and businesses, while helping to achieve its target of a climate-neutral Europe by 2050. Employing digital solutions by people and businesses can positively contribute to the transition towards a climate-neutral economy. In parallel, emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants originating from the production activities, including those of the ICT sector, also have an impact on climate change and can be harmful to human health and detrimental to the environment and biodiversity. It is necessary to ensure synergies between digital and green transitions, to enable the adoption of low-carbon digital solutions across all industries, but at the same time to reduce the environmental impact of the ICT sector.

Information about how the ICT sector contributes to air emissions is a first step towards measuring the environmental impact of digitalisation on the environment.

4.1. Data description

These statistics on the air emissions of the ICT sector provide insights about the scale of the different pollutants and greenhouse gasses emissions produced by the ICT sector, how big part of those emissions come from the ICT manufacturing and ICT services sub-sectors, as well as the share of those emissions in the emissions of total economy.   The definition of ICT sector used for the purpose of producing these statistics follows the OECD official definition: “The production (goods and services) of a candidate industry must primarily be intended to fulfil or enable the function of information processing and communication by electronic means, including transmission and display” (OECD Guide to Measuring the Information Society 2011). Operationalised definition of the ICT sector and its components in terms of economic activities (and their codes) according to NACE rev.2 fulfilling the OECD definition includes:  

    ICT sector - Total    

   ICT Manufacturing   

 C26.1

  Manufacture of electronic components and boards

 C26.2

  Manufacture of computers and peripheral equipment

 C26.3

  Manufacture of communication equipment

 C26.4

  Manufacture of consumer electronics

 C26.8

  Manufacture of magnetic and optical media

    ICT Services

 G46.5

  Wholesale of information and communication equipment

 J58.2

  Software publishing

 J61

  Telecommunications

 J62

  Computer programming, consultancy and related activities

 J63.1

  Data processing, hosting and related activities; web portals

 S95.1

  Repair of computers and communication equipment

  The statistics on the air emissions of the ICT sector are produced based on two data sources:

  • Air emissions accounts by NACE Rev. 2 activity [env_ac_ainah_r2]
  • Structural Business Statistics (SBS).

This air emissions accounts dataset reports the size of emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants broken down by different types of pollutants, and by 64 economic activities (classified according to NACE Rev. 2, at 2-digit level). Concepts and principles are the same as in national accounts.    The available breakdown of the air emissions accounts by economic activities at the 2-digit level of NACE Rev.2 codes is not detailed enough to calculate the emissions produced by the ICT sector, which consists of some 3-digit NACE codes.

Therefore, auxiliary information is used from the SBS data, which serve as weighting factors to estimate the air emissions produced by the ICT sector. The weights aim to estimate how important in terms of economic performance or size are the particular economic activities at the 3-digits level of NACE in their respective 2-digit divisions ([C261 + C262 + C263 + C264 + C268] in C26, G465 in G46, J582 in J58, [J62+J631] in [J62+J63], S951 in S95). To construct the weights, a combination of two economic indicators (‘value of output’ and ‘number of persons employed’) was used, assumed to be most appropriate for establishing the importance of those specific 3-digit activities in their respective 2-digit divisions.

The selection of the indicators used in the calculation of weights was based on the discussions with the domain experts.   Various factors have different impact on the importance of the specific economic activities in manufacturing industries and in service industries. Therefore, two sets of weights were constructed, with varying proportions of the economic indicators (‘value of output’ and ‘number of persons employed’) used for the ICT manufacturing and for the ICT services. To ensure the protection of any confidential data used from the SBS data in the detail NACE breakdowns, the specific proportions of the economic indicators used for calculating the weights will not be disclosed.

These weights were then applied to the data on the air emissions by NACE (at the 2-digit level) and then aggregated in order to estimate the air emissions produced by the ICT sector, with the breakdown into ICT manufacturing and ICT services.   The estimated statistics on the air emissions produced by ICT sector include three indicators:

  • Air emissions of ICT sector broken down by ICT manufacturing and ICT services [isoc_env_ict_ae] – the data are presented in absolute numbers (with 4 different units available: tonnes, thousand tonnes, grams per capita, kilograms per capita)
  • Distribution of air emissions ICT sector [isoc_env_ict_aed]– the data presents the share of ICT manufacturing and ICT service in the total ICT sector emissions. 
  • Contribution of the ICT sector emissions in the economy [isoc_env_ict_aec]  – the data presents the share of the total ICT sector emissions in the total economy and the share of the ICT sector components emissions in their respective sub-sectors of the economy – ICT manufacturing in all manufacturing industries and ICT services in all service industries (including trade). For this purpose, following the definitions used in the Industry, trade and services statistics (ei_is), sections B, C, D, E according to NACE Rev.2 are considered as the manufacturing industries, and sections G, H, I, J, M, N od NACE Rev.2 are considered as service industries, including trade.

  All these statistics are available by type of air pollutants and greenhouse gases (AIRPOL): 

  • Carbon dioxide without emissions from biomass (CO2) [CO2],
  • Carbon dioxide from biomass (Biomass CO2)*  [CO2_BIO], 
  • Nitroux oxide (N2O) [N2O],
  • Methane (CH4) [CH4],
  • Perfluorocarbons (PFCs),
  • Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs),
  • Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) including nitrogen trifluoride (NF3),
  • Nitrogen oxides (NOx) [NOX],
  • Non-methane volatile organic compounds [NMVOC],
  • Carbon monoxide (CO) [CO],
  • Particulate matter < 10μm [PM10],
  • Particulate matter < 2,5μm [PM2_5],
  • Sulphur dioxide (SO2) expressed in SO2 equivalent,
  • Ammonia (NH3) [NH3],

and various air pollutants expressed in equivalents of another air pollutant: 

  • CH4 in CO2 equivalents [CH4_CO2E]
  • N2O in CO2 equivalents [N2O_CO2E]
  • HFC in CO2 equivalents [HFC_CO2E]
  • PFC in CO2 equivalents [PFC_CO2E]
  • SF6 and NF3 in CO2 equivalents [NF3_SF6_CO2E]
  • NH3 in SO2 equivalents [NH3_SO2E]
  • SOx in SO2 equivalents [SOX_SO2E]
  • NOx in SO2 equivalents [NOX_SO2E]
  • CO in NMVOC equivalents [CO_NMVOCE]
  • CH4 in NMVOC equivalents [CH4_NMVOCE]
  • NOx in NMVOC equivalents [NOX_NMVOCE]

 The air pollutants expressed in equivalents of other air pollutants allow for computation of the following environmental pressures:  

Environment pressure Code Calculation

Global warming potential

Applied factors: N2O: 265; CH4: 28

 GHG

CO2 + N2O in  CO2 eq + CH4 in CO2 eq. + HFC in CO2 eq. + 

  PFC in CO2 eq. + NF3 in CO2 eq. + SF6 in CO2 eq.

Acidifying gases

Applied factors: NH3: 1.9; NOX: 0.7

 ACG

SOX in  SO2 eq. + NOX in  SO2 eq. + 

    NH3 in  SO2 eq. 

Tropospheric ozone precursors

Applied factors: NOx: 1.22; CO: 0.11; CH4: 0.014

 O3PR

NMVOC + NOX in NMVOC  eq. +

CO in NMVOC  eq. + CH4 in NMVOC  eq. 

 *CO2 emissions from biomass combustion are treated as a separate substance. Hence the air emission accounts totals for the ordinary CO2 emissions do not include any CO2 emissions from biomass combustion.

4.2. Unit of measure

For table isoc_env_ict_ae: tonnes, thousand tonnes, grams per capita, kilograms per capita.

For tables isoc_env_ict_aed and isoc_env_ict_aec: percentage.

4.3. Reference Period

Calendar year

4.4. Accuracy - overall

The indicators are produced according to high-level quality standards. The overall accuracy is considered to be good.

4.5. Source data

4.5.1. Source data - Organisation

EUROSTAT: Air emissions accounts by NACE Rev. 2 activity [env_ac_ainah_r2] and Structural Business Statistics (SBS).

4.5.2. Source data - Comment

Information about air emissions comes from Air emissions accounts by NACE Rev. 2 activity [env_ac_ainah_r2].

Auxiliary information to estimate the weights for the ICT sector comes from Structural Business Statistics (SBS).

5.1. Frequency of dissemination

5.1.1. Frequency of dissemination - Grade

Every year

5.1.2. Frequency of dissemination - Comment

The indicators are updated annually.

5.2. Timeliness

5.2.1. Timeliness - Grade

T+2 years

5.2.2. Timeliness - Comment

New data points are disseminated within two years after the reference year.

6.1. Reference area

6.1.1. Reference Area - Grade

All EU MS

6.1.2. Reference Area - Comment

All EU MS

Data are presented for all EU Member States plus Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland, Serbia and Türkiye. 

6.2. Comparability - geographical

6.2.1. Comparability - geographical - Grade

All EU MS

6.2.2. Comparability - geographical - Comment

Data are comparable between all EU Member States and other presented countries.

6.3. Coverage - Time

6.3.1. Time Coverage - Grade

5 to 10 years

6.3.2. Time Coverage - Comment

Presented time series starts in 2013. For the EU aggregate it starts in 2019.

6.4. Comparability - over time

6.4.1. Comparability - over time - Grade

> 4 data points

6.4.2. Comparability - over time - Comment

Length of comparable time series without methodological break is longer than 4 data points.

For further details, please see point 15 of metadata for the air emissions statistics.

7.1. Dissemination format - Publications

Analysis of indicators is presented in Eurostat's Statistics Explained article Emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants from the ICT sector - Statistics Explained - Eurostat.

7.2. Dissemination format - online database

See tables:

  • isoc_env_ict_ae Air emissions from the ICT sector by NACE Rev.2 activity.
  • isoc_env_ict_aed Distribution of air emissions from the ICT sector by NACE Rev.2 activity.
  • isoc_env_ict_aec Contribution of the ICT sector to the air emissions in the economy by NACE Rev.2 activity.

7.3. Dissemination format - other

Eurostat dedicated section on Digital economy and society: Overview - Digital economy and society - Eurostat (europa.eu).

Copyrights: Eurostat Copyright/Licence Policy is applicable.