Pollutant emissions register

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shell refinery in Pernis
View of the A 100 motorway and the Wilmersdorf power plant

A Pollutant Emission Register ( Pollutant Release and Transfer Register - PRTR ) is a national or international database containing materials, the data on releases (emissions) of (harmful). As a rule, the substances recorded in the pollutant emission register are released from industrial facilities (point sources). However, emissions from diffuse sources (e.g. traffic or agricultural activities) can also be taken into account.

The data can include:

Pollutant emission registers can be part of an environmental information system or can be published there.

history

While the data in some registers was initially collected on a voluntary basis or entered by the authorities themselves, there are now defined requirements based on international agreements

  • the substances to be reported (e.g. if the substance-specific threshold value is exceeded)
  • of the establishments that have to report (e.g. depending on the type and / or size of the establishment)
  • and the reporting frequency (usually annually).

The companies affected by the reporting obligation notify the competent authorities in their country at fixed intervals of their emissions and, if applicable, waste quantities using a notification form for each of the substances recorded in the relevant national register, which may differ from country to country. While safeguarding the company's interests, this data should then be made available to the public, for example via the Internet.

Many countries now have pollutant emission registers, some of which were set up long before international agreements were signed.

Selected pollutant emission registers
country Name of the register national registration international coverage Remarks link
Australia National Pollution Inventory (NPI) x - List is updated annually; Since July 2001, the number of substances whose emission quantities have to be reported has been increased from 36 to 90 (status: 2004) npi.gov.au
United States Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) x - Introduced in 1987 and expanded in 1990; it covers around 650 substances and groups of substances that could affect human health or the environment or for which limit values ​​apply in the USA; Reporting obligation if the respective threshold is exceeded epa.gov
Canada National Pollution Release Inventory (NPRI) x - Introduced in 1993; annual update of the registered substances; It covers more than 300 substances and groups of substances, the emissions of which have to be reported by around 8,000 Canadian companies if the reporting criteria are met ec.gc.ca
European Union European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER) x x Started on February 23, 2004; contains information about the annual emissions of approx. 10,000 industrial facilities in 15 EU member states as well as in Norway and Hungary (especially for 2001) (see text below for more) eper.cec.eu.int
European Union European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) x x Replaces the EPER since 2007; first data published in 2009; for further details see Text below europa.eu
Germany Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) x - The German obligation to set up a national PRTR results from the PRTR protocol that Germany signed together with 35 other states and the EU on May 21, 2003 in Kiev. The German implementation law came into force on June 13, 2007. thru.de ; eper.de
Netherlands Pollutant Emission Register (PER) / Emission Inventory System (EIS) x - 1974 created as an emissions database without public access and on a voluntary basis; Register contains data on emissions from industrial and non-industrial sources of approx. 800 substances and groups of substances into the air, water and soil; since 1998 additional data on waste; additional consideration of diffuse sources emissieregistratie.nl (new website is currently (as of July 2006) under construction)
France Registre Français des Emissions Polluantes (IREP) x - Contains 44 air and 61 water pollutants; Data since 2003; Data retrospectively to 2000 should be recorded retrospectively irep.ecologie.gouv.fr
Great Britain Pollution Inventory (PI) x - Sometimes referred to as the Inventory of Sources and Releases (ISR); based on the Chemical Release Inventory (CRI) introduced in 1990; since 1998 PI; It covers around 200 substances and groups of substances for the areas of air, water and disposed waste, which large industrial companies in England and Wales have to report when certain thresholds are exceeded; The substance list was adjusted again for the 2006 reporting year environment-agency.gov.uk
Austria EPER database x - Contains data on pollutant emissions in air and water from the 400 largest Austrian industrial companies Umweltbundesamt.at
Norway Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) x - Based on the national INKOSYS monitoring system established in 1978 and adapted to modern requirements with the support of the OECD sft.no

International agreements

Pollutant emissions register: mandate and support

The establishment of pollutant emission registers is a requirement from Chapter 19 of Agenda 21 adopted in June 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro . Agenda 21 emphasizes the right of the public to access information on the release and use of dangerous substances , which was later enshrined in the Aarhus Convention of 1998. The aim of the pollutant emission register is to record the most important emissions and to work towards a reduction in the quantities emitted by publication (public pressure) or to be able to better control them (through state bodies).

The European Pollutant Emissions Register (EPER)

On July 17th, 2000, the Commission of the European Communities decided to set up a European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER) with Decision 2000/479 / EC. According to this decision, the member states report to the Commission every three years on emissions from companies defined in another directive (96/61 / EC). This report must in particular contain information on the emissions into air and water of all pollutants whose threshold values ​​specified in Annex A1 of Decision 2000/479 / EC have been exceeded. 50 substances are recorded in Appendix A1, which are divided into 5 groups:

  1. Environmental problems [e.g. B. The 6 greenhouse gases: CO 2 ( carbon dioxide ), CH 4 ( methane ), N 2 O ( nitrous oxide ), HFC (partially fluorinated hydrocarbons), PFC (perfluorinated hydrocarbons), SF 6 ( sulfur hexafluoride ), NH 3 ( ammonia )],
  2. Heavy metals (e.g. precious metals such as bismuth , iron , copper , lead , zinc , tin , nickel , cadmium , chromium , mercury and uranium ),
  3. organic substances containing chlorine [e.g. B. CH 2 Cl 2 ( dichloromethane ), C 6 Cl 6 ( hexachlorobenzene )],
  4. other organic compounds [e.g. B. C 6 H 6 ( benzene ), organotin compounds ] and
  5. other compounds (e.g. cyanides , fluorine and inorganic fluorine compounds).

Since 2004, the interested citizen has been able to gain insight into the annual emissions into the air and water from large industrial companies, intensive animal husbandry and landfills in his country or in Europe (consisting of the 15 member states of the EU plus Norway and Hungary) via the Internet :

Internet addresses for EPER data for Germany, Austria and the EU
country Number of establishments / plants recorded Internet link
Germany 1835 prtr.bund.de
Austria 400 Umweltbundesamt.at
European Union 9387 prtr.ec.europa.eu

From 2007 the EPER will be replaced by a European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR or EPRTR). The corresponding Regulation (EC) No. 166/2006 of January 18, 2006 was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on February 4, 2006. In addition to emissions into the air and water, the E-PRTR will also contain data on emissions into the soil and the generation of waste.

The European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR)

Transition from EPER to E-PRTR

On May 21, 2003, the European Community signed the UN-ECE protocol on registers for recording releases and transfers of pollutants (PRTR protocol) in Kiev as part of the fifth ministerial conference “Environment for Europe”. It is the first multilateral agreement on registers for recording releases and transfers of pollutants that is legally binding and goes beyond the borders of the EU. Its aim is to establish uniform national registers that are accessible to the public to record releases and transfers of pollutants in each Member State. By signing the protocol by the EU itself, it also undertakes to set up a PRTR, namely the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register, E-PRTR. This receives its data from the national PRTR of the member states. The Regulation (EC) 166/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 January 2006 concerning the establishment of a European register for recording the release and transfer of pollutants and amending Directive 91/689 / EEC and Directive 96/61 / EC of the Council provides the basis for the establishment of a PRTR in the form of a publicly accessible electronic database at EU level.

The E-PRTR will replace the existing EPER from 2007. Compared to the EPER, the E-PRTR contains information on more pollutants, more activities (industrial areas), releases in soils, releases from diffuse sources and the shipment of waste outside a production site.

On July 26, 2006, the German Federal Cabinet passed the PRTR Implementation Act and the PRTR Ratification Act, a package of regulations for the introduction of a pollutant register according to the PRTR protocol (Pollutant Release and Transfers Register).

Criticism of pollutant emission registers

In addition to the nationally individual selection of the substances and substance groups recorded in the individual pollutant emission registers (note: the E-PRTR regulation stipulates the minimum number of substances / substance groups for the European member states), the different threshold values ​​(see table "Threshold values") are the subject of Criticism of pollutant emission registers. If the amount of a substance released in a company is below the specified threshold value, the company does not need to report this amount. In other words: the release quantities published in a pollutant emission register often do not correspond to the actual total released quantities, but are usually lower.

Threshold values ​​for releases into the air of selected substances in various pollutant emission registers
material E-PRTR (Europe), eur-lex.europa.eu (PDF; 151 kB) NPRI (Canada), ec.gc.ca (PDF) NPI (Australia), npi.gov.au
Carbon monoxide , CO 500 t / a 20 t / a 10 t / a
Sulfur dioxide , SO 2 150 t / a 20 t / year 10 t / a
Nitrogen oxides , NO x 100 t / a 20 t / year 400 t / a
Fine dust , PM 10 50 t / a - 400 t / a

literature

  • Dieter Maas: EPER - European Pollutant Emission Register: Development and Status . In: KA - Abwasser, Abfall , 52 (2), 2005, pp. 138-140, ISSN  1616-430X
  • Reinhold Kurschat: Unlimited Accessible Pollutants - On the way to the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register. In: wlb water, air and soil , 50 (7-8), 2006, pp. 10-12, ISSN  0938-8303

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Law for the implementation of the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers of May 21, 2003 and for the implementation of Regulation (EC) No. 166/2006 of June 6, 2007 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 1002 )
  2. ↑ eur-lex.europa.eu (PDF; 151 kB), published on February 4, 2006