NAMEA

Air Emissions Account

The special feature of the Air Emissions Account is that only those air emissions are taken into accounts which are caused by private households, enterprises and institutions residing in Austria, irrespective of the place where they are produced. In contrast, in the framework of international reporting obligations (UNFCCC, UNECE CLRTAP) those air emissions are reported that are caused in Austria, independently of the polluters origin.

The development of selected air pollutants and greenhouse gases in brief: Sulphur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen oxides (NO_x), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC), methane (CH₄), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂ – total, from fossil sources, from biogenic sources, from other sources), nitrous oxide (N₂O), ammonia (NH₃) as well as particulate matter (PM₁₀).

Between 1995 and 2009 these air emissions (without air transport industry, not taken into account because of the data availability) were reduced in many cases to some extent considerably. The biggest losses were achieved for SO₂ (-54.9%), CO (-49.2%) as well as non-methane volatile organic compounds - NMVOC - (-44.4%). But also the emissions of CH₄ (-25.5%), N₂O (-18.5%), NH₃ (-9.4%) and the very often discussed particulate matter - represented by PM10 (-8.2%) - could be reduced considerably. Emissions of NO_x increased indeed by 25.1% between 1995 and 2005 but from 2006 to 2009 they reduced by 11.0%. The overall growth rate was 11.3% between 1995 and 2009. A similar but slightly more positive development has been registered in the case of CO₂. Between 1995 and 2005 the emissions of climate-changing CO₂ increased by 20.1% whereas they could be decreased in the following period (from 2006 to 2009) by 12.1%. Finally, the emissions of climate-changing CO₂ were 5.5% higher in 2009 compared to 1995.

Integrated NAMEA

The economic accounts of the Austrian integrated NAMEA comprise production value, gross value added and labour force in full-time equivalences. The environmental data consist of the modules material input, energy consumption, air emissions, environmental protection expenditure (for protection of ambient air and climate, and for waste management), environmental taxes and wastes.

Between 1995 and 2009 the material input increased by 15.4%. Compared to the development of gross value added this rise was less pronounced and therefore a certain decoupling was registered. In 2009 the material input consisted to 60.7% of mineral materials, to 26.6% of biomass as well as to 12.7% of fossil materials. Domestic demand could be covered in the case of mineral materials to 80.6% by domestic resources, whereas the level of self supply was lower for biomass (62.7%) and very low for fossil materials (12.4%). Energy consumption increased by 13.6% between 1995 and 2009, while gross value added rose by 34.4%. The consequence was a distinct relative decoupling of economic growth from energy consumption. The ultimate goal should be an absolute decoupling, i.e. economic growth accompanied by declining energy consumption. Energy consumption was dominated by non renewable energy carriers whose share decreased from 72.2% to 64.5% between 1995 and 2009, while renewable energy carriers (from a share of 14.9% to 20.1%) became more and more important and the other non emission relevant energy carriers (from a share of 13.0% to 15.4%) slightly increased as well. Environmental protection expenditures are available for the period 1997 to 2009. The expenses for protection of ambient air and climate rose by 109.3%, those for waste management by 125.5%. Between 1995 and 2009 environmental taxes increased by 75.6% overall. The most significant groups were energy and transport taxes, also making the greatest contribution to the increment.

For emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases reference is made to the above mentioned Air Emissions Account.

A comparison of hazardous wastes is not possible due to changes in the legal regulations and the breaks in time series resulting from this. In reference to these general conditions the highest amount accrued in 2008 (1.37 mio. t). The lowest quantity was registered in 2005 (913 000 t). Data for non-hazardous wastes only exist for 2004, 2006 and 2008.