Introductory information on the Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) - Version 2.0
Abstract A global emissions source database called EDGAR has been developed jointly by TNO and RIVM to meet the urgent need of atmospheric chemistry and climate modellers and the need of policy-makers. The EDGAR database was to estimate the annual emissions of direct and indirect greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O; CO, NOx, non-methane VOC; SO2), including ozone-depleting compounds (halocarbons) for 1990 on a regional and grid basis. To meet the aim of establishing the global emissions from both anthropogenic and biogenic sources, a complete set of data would be required to estimate the total source strength of the various gases with a 1x1 degree resolution (altitude resolution of 1 km), as agreed upon in the Global Emissions Inventory Activity (GEIA) of the International Atmospheric Chemistry Programme (IGAC). As insights in this field are still changing, due attention was paid in the setup of the system to flexibility on the disaggregation of sources, spatial and temporal resolution, and species. The global total source strength of anthropogenic emissions in 1990 is estimated to be 29.2 Pg CO2 (including partial oxidation to other compounds than CO2), 320 Tg CH4, 3.2 Tg N2O-N (excluding a background emission from arable lands of 1.4 Tg N2O-N), 974 Tg CO, 102 Tg NO2, 149 Tg SO2, and 178 Tg NM-VOC emissions. In addition, natural emissions of N2O and reactive NMVOC are included in the database, with global estimates of 6.6 and 3.6 Tg N2O-N from natural soils and oceans, respectively, and 1182 Tg NMVOC (as CH4) from vegetation and oceans. An indication of the uncertainty in the data has been provided separately. A partial validation, by comparing our estimates per major source with other global total estimates, and for NO2 and SO2 by comparing with other regional inventories for Europe and Asia, generally showed a good agreement. Introduction The main goal of this project was to create a database with the information necessary to calculate globally gridded emissions in the base year 1990, and also historical emissions where both activity levels and emission factors were readily available. Version 2.0 of EDGAR includes data sets covering all major anthropogenic and most natural sources of greenhouse gases for 1990, regionally as well as on a 1ox1o grid. For number of sources, e.g. CO2, historical emissions can also be calculated. It has a limited function in calculating past and future emissions, and does not include uncertainty estimates per country or per grid cell, but regional overall uncertainty by source and compound. So as not to duplicate activities worldwide, RIVM and TNO have, amongst others, been cooperating with activities in the framework of the Global Emissions Inventory Activity (GEIA), which is a component of the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Programme (IGAC) Core Project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). In this programme inventories are developed and exchanged between the participating international groups interested in this area. In the framework of GEIA, TNO and RIVM have committed themselves to coordinating a number of inventories (anthropogenic VOC, anthropogenic and natural N2O emissions). Besides these inventories/contributions from EDGAR to GEIA, earlier inventories by GEIA and other institutes are included in EDGAR. The major difference between inventories of EDGAR and of GEIA is that GEIA inventories provide the best global gridded inventories available to date for specific compounds or specific source categories. However, as they are partially compiled by concatenation of existing regional emission inventories on grid, the GEIA inventories may not always cover all source categories, nor may they have options to distinguish major source categories. The EDGAR inventories, however, have been developed using less detailed national data, but try to be as comprehensive as possible and to be complete in geographic coverage and source categories - at least for the anthropogenic sources. In this respect, most EDGAR inventories could be considered as 'preliminary GEIA inventories'. Also, the EDGAR suite of inventories try to be as consistent as possible, e.g. avoiding different spatial distributions patterns or different reference years across different compounds and they provide emission data per major and per detailed source category for
all compounds. In addition, the EDGAR database includes activity levels and emission factors separately, to guarantee maximum applicability for policy purposes. EDGAR Version 2.0 has been validated by comparison of global results for main sources with other global estimates. Our estimates in Version 2.0 are generally in line with 'best estimates' of IPCC, which we consider to be the aggregates of various scientific emission estimates, and certainly within the uncertainty ranges. Further validation of EDGAR results, either by comparison with other inventories or in more regional detail, has not been carried out (except for NOx and SO2 in Europe and Asia). In Olivier et al. (1996, 1999) a scientific description of the contents of Version 2.0 is given as well as some of the tabular and gridded results extracted from the database, including a first comparison with IPCC estimates. Also uncertainties connected to the data and to the resulting emission tables and gridded maps are discussed in this report. The potential for policy applications are shown by making different crosssections per source, region and year, from which we can infer the locations and types of the largest contributors of greenhouse-gas emissions, and identify the fastest growing sources. By comparing activity intensities and emission factors regionally or in time, we can draw conclusions on which emission sources can be controlled most efficiently. We have pointed out key sectors and regions where substantial emissions may be achieved. Our main objective in creating an emission database serving both policy-making and atmospheric modelling has been accomplished now. In conjunction with the uncertainty table and comparisons provided, we have created a comprehensive database with consistent underlying activity, emission-factor and grid-allocation data per source sector. The database, located at RIVM, serves as an analysis tool, and an emission generator for other atmospheric modelling groups, both within RIVM and TNO, and externally. In addition, it functions as the database to provide the IMAGE model with the basic data to drive the model calculations on emissions. Results from the database are distributed through the website (http://www.rivm.nl/env/int/coredata/edgar/index.html) as well as through anonymous FTP (info.rivm.nl; sub-directory /pub/lae/EDGARV20) in order to provide external users with a consistent set of estimated emissions data for 1990 of direct and indirect greenhouse gases (including ozone depleting substances and SO2) for all anthropogenic sources and most anthropogenic sources. Further information can be obtained from RIVM. Requests - preferably by email - should be send to: Dr. Jos G.J. Olivier, project leader RIVM, P.O. Box 1 NL-3720 BA Bilthoven THE NETHERLANDS email: jos.olivier@mnp.nl phone: +31-30-274 3035 (2759) fax: +31-30-274 4417
The following people have been actively involved in the preparation of Version 2.0 of the EDGAR database: - at RIVM (1): Lex Bouwman, Wim van der Maas, Jos Olivier, Winand Smeets - at TNO (2): Jan Berdowski, Jan-Pieter Bloos, Chris Veldt, Antoon Visschedijk, Peter Zandveld - at PSB (3): Rene Baart, Ruud Haverlag (1) National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) (2) Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) (3) PSB Analysis, Design & Implementation Information Systems BV Type of data - Annual emission data on a 1x1 degree grid are provided per source category for 1990 (1986 for halocarbons). - Annual emission data are provided per source category for 13 world regions for 1990 (1986 for halocarbons). - Historical time series of annual CO2 emissions and halocarbon emissions [not implemented at FTP and web-site]. Time profiles Time profiles, e.g. distribution of annual emissions over calendar months (or week days, or hours per day), have not been implemented in Version 2.0.
Documentation The following files provide more information on the data available: - whatsnew.txt : what's new since the last modification - read_me.1st (this file) general.txt : . type, version and format of data files (1x1, doc, wk1, prn, eps) . description of sources, regions and compounds . citation, origin of data, background information . uncertainty, validation, calculation limitations
. disclaimer . registration for keeping informed about changes, more info, comments . where to find the data; subdirectory structure . future developments . acknowledgement of funding agencies and provision of data . how to access EDGAR data detailed.txt : . list of codes and description of sectors per major source type . list of countries in regions . origin of data caveats.txt : . listing of additional information per compound and per sector: . on the completeness of the suite of EDGAR inventories . on specific data files . to flag specific caveats in the data, if any - ref.txt : list of references referred to in other help files. - edgexsu.doc . MS Word6 file with front page, table of contents and Executive Summary of the report by Olivier et al. (1996). In addition, in the DOC directory the following data can be found: tabyyccc.wk1 . summary data per region in a table for compound ccc in Lotus 123 format tabyyccc.prn . summary data per region in a table for compound ccc in ASCII format file_lst.txt
. list of all files contained in the EDGAR directories (subdirectory, file name and date) [not yet implemented]
Disclaimer Please carefully read the section describing of the limitations and known caveats of the EDGAR data provided at this FTP and web-site and full disclaimer in the help files 'general.hlp' and 'caveats.hlp', prior to using the data in any application. Although this database has been constructed with great care, RIVM does not accept any liability from using the data provided at RIVM's anonymous FTP and web-site. Acknowledgements When using EDGAR data in any publication of any format, please acknowledge the source of the data by referring to 'EDGAR V2.0; Olivier et al., 1999'. The construction of this database had not been possible without the funding and cooperation of many individuals and organisations. In particular, we would like to mention NRP and the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) for funding and GEIA and dr. J.A. Logan at Harvard University for providing a population distribution on 1x1 degree, which is pivotal information to construct the gridded emissions. For a more complete list of acknowledgements please read the file 'general.hlp' This study was commissioned by the Directorate-General for Environment, Department Air and Energy, of the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and the Environment, project numbers 481507 and 728001. This project is and has been carried out in the framework of the Dutch National Research Programme on Global Air Pollution and Climate Change (NRP), project numbers 851060 and 954222. This research is part of the Global Emissions Inventory Activity (GEIA), a component of the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Core Project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). References Olivier, J.G.J, A.F. Bouwman, J.J.M. Berdowski, C. Veldt, J.P.J. Bloos, A.J.H. Visschedijk, C.W.M. van der Maas and P.Y.J. Zandveld (1999) Sectoral emission inventories of greenhouse gases for 1990 on a per country basis as well as on 1x1 degree. Environmental Science & Policy, 2, 241-264. Show abstract. Olivier, J.G.J., Bouwman, A.F., Van der Maas, C.W.M., Berdowski, J.J.M, Veldt, C. Bloos, J.P.J., Visschedijk, A.J.H., Zandveld, P.Y.J., Haverlag, J.L (1996) Description of EDGAR Version 2.0. A set of global emission inventories of greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting substances for all anthropogenic and most natural sources on a per country basis and on 1x1 degree grid. RIVM/TNO report, December 1996. RIVM, Bilthoven, RIVM report nr. 771060 002. [TNO MEP report nr. R96/119]. Show summary. File: read_me.1st Version: 1.9 Date: 17.07.97 (updated: 21.08.00 - web version, 14.10.05 – new address)