Emissions of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), a seriously health-damaging pollutant, have decreased by 2% compared to the previous year and by about 12% since the year 2000. However, reporting of PM emissions from Member States is less complete than for the other main pollutants.

In 2007 the top polluting sources in the EU-27 were fuel combustion in households, passenger cars, heavy duty vehicles, and in power plants.

Other findings of the report include:

• The road transport sector remains a major source of air pollution in the EU-27. Heavy duty vehicles are the single most important source of NO_x, while passenger cars are among the top 6 polluting sources for CO, NO_x, PM_2.5 and NMVOC.

• The residential sector is an important source of several pollutants. Energy use by households (the burning of wood, gas, coal etc) is the most important source of PM_2.5 and NMVOC, the second most important source of CO and is a significant source of both SO_x and NO_x.

• Power plants producing heat and electricity have reduced emissions significantly since 1990 by improving abatement equipment, switching to cleaner fuels and through improved energy efficiency. However the sector remains a large source of air pollution, responsible for around 60% of all EU-27 SO_x emissions and 20% of total NO_x emissions.

• Agricultural activities in the EU-27 cause more than 90% of the EU-27’s ammonia (NH₃) emissions. Ammonia is a particularly important pollutant with respect to Europe’s environment, responsible for eutrophication and acidification of ecosystems.

• The largest Member States are generally responsible for the most air pollution. France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom contributed the most to EU-27 emissions in 2007.

The European Environment Agency publishes the data from the report in the air pollutant emissions data viewer, a web-based interface that simplifies access and analysis of the data. The data viewer can show emission trends for the main sectors and allows comparison of emissions between different countries and activities. In addition, the data viewer can produce graphics and key emission estimates.

LRTAP. Since 1979, the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution has addressed some of the major environmental problems of the member countries of the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Europe. The Convention has 51 Parties and aims to limit and, as far as possible, gradually reduce and prevent air pollution including long-range transboundary air pollution.

Each year, the European Environment Agency assists the European Commission by preparing the European Community’s inventory report which is reported to the UNECE Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution Convention (LRTAP).

Under the LRTAP Convention, Parties (including the European Community) are requested to report emissions data for a number of important air pollutants, including sulphur oxides (SO_x), nitrogen oxides (NO_x), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), ammonia (NH₃), carbon monoxide (CO), primary particulate matter (PM), heavy metals (HMs) and persistent organic pollutants (POPs).

The EU-27 comprises Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.