Air pollutant emissions are important indicators of the pressure affecting air pollution. It contains national emission levels of major air pollutants by year and source sector.

The Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change run the studies within the scope of the “Protocol on Long-term Financing of the Cooperative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe (EMEP)” of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) “Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP)”.

A national inventory of air pollutant emissions is compiled annually and reported through the European Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET) in conjunction with the UNECE Secretariat. The first reporting was done in 2010, and improvements are made annually. Emission calculations were performed using emission factors taken from the internationally accepted guidance.

UN-ECE The Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution - CLRTAP - entered into force on 13.11.1979 and Turkey became a Party on 18.04.1983. 51 countries are parties to the Convention and the Secretariat of the Convention is run by the UN- ECE.

The contract has 8 protocols. The only protocol to which our country became a party to on 20.12.1985, is the “Protocol on Long-term Financing of the Cooperative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-Range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe (EMEP).” The main objective of this protocol is to collect the air pollutant emission inventory of all parties, to model the inventory data for the EMEP region and to verify the model results with air quality measurements at long-range stations.

The following studies were conducted under the Convention on Long-Range Transmission of Air Pollutants:

• As part of our responsibilities under the EMEP Protocol, emissions inventory reporting has been done regularly since 2011 in the form of a time series that is two years behind the current calendar year, in accordance with the rules of the Protocol.
• The Informative Inventory Report (IIR), which should be prepared as part of the emissions inventory data, is submitted annually, for the first time in 2012.
• The regular meeting of the Task Force on Emission Inventories and Projections was held in Istanbul in 2013, hosted by our country. At this meeting, our reporting was awarded the “Best Developed Inventory in the Last Three Years” prize. The 2015 annual meeting was held in Italy. Our reporting on the inventory was awarded in the category “Significant Progress”

The pollutants that form the basis for reporting are NO_X (nitrogen oxides), SO₂ (sulphur dioxide), NMVOC (non-methane volatile organic compounds), NH₃ (ammonia), PM₁₀ (particulate matter), PM_2.5 (fine particulate matter), CO (carbon monoxide), and each addition is made as necessary improvements are made throughout the year.

Looking at the situation of emissions for the years 1990 to 2019 covered by the reporting based on the year 2021 in the graph, the national emission totals for the year 2019 are as follows: 779 kt for NO_X, 1121 kt for NMVOC, 2455 kt for SO_X, 765 kt for NH₃, 249 kt for PM₁₀ and 1663 kt for CO. In this context, our country’s share of air pollution from SO_X emissions is almost percent 60 if all EMEP countries are taken into account, and it is important to prioritize efforts to improve polluting sectors of the Energy Industry and Domestic Facilities^[32].

When analyzing emissions compared to 2018, it can be seen that NH₃, CO, PM₁₀, and NMVOC emissions increased by percent 5, percent 4.5, percent 3, percent and 3, respectively, while SO₂ and NO_X emissions decreased by percent 2.5 and percent 0.7, respectively. The table shows the emission changes as a function of time series and compared to the previous year^[33].

Of national emissions in 2019, percent 75 of SO₂ emissions are from energy industry and percent 8are from domestic facilities. percent 44 of NO_X emissions originated from the energy industry. percent 22 of NMVOC emissions originated from the livestock industry. The main source of NH₃ emissions is the fertilizer management.

 

TABLE 8- EMISSION-CHANGE TRENDS FOR SO₂, NO_X, NMVOC, NH₃, CO AND PM₁₀

Change by Years (%)	SO2	NOX	NMVOC	NH3	CO	PM10
Trend (1990-2019)	45	205	26	31	-18	-9
Trend (2018-2019)	-2,5	-0,7	3	5	4,5	3

Source: Turkey’s Informative Inventory Report, 2021, Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, General Directorate of Environmental Management

Between 2005 and 2019, the four emissions of these pollutants decreased as follows: SOx emissions by percent 76, NOx emissions by percent 29, NMVOC emissions by percent 42, and NH₃ emissions by percent 8 in the EU-27 Member States. ^[34].

 

RAPH 24- EMISSION TOTALS FOR SO₂, NO_X, NMVOC, NH₃, CO, and PM₁₀ (1990-2019)

Source: Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, General Directorate of Environmental Management, 2020