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Review Study on European Urban Emission Inventories Topic report 30/96 by Mario C. Cirillo, Riccardo De Lauretis, Roberto Del Ciello (ENEA) European Topic Centre on Air Emmissions September 1996 This report was prepared under the supervision of André Jol, Project Manager, European Environment Agency

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Urban air emission inventories are an essential tool for the management of air quality at the local (urban) scale. In 1996 the European Environment Agency’s Topic Centre on Air Emissions (ETC/AE) therefore prepared this report, which aims at encouraging a process of harmonisation of European urban air emission inventories.

For the preparation of detailed "bottom-up" urban emission inventories, for example by local authorities, it is recommended that the methods and results are documented in a complete and transparent way. These recommendations are summarised in draft guidelines. All relevant information on specific urban inventories could be collected in a catalogue in the future. Furthermore, to reach better harmonisation and consistency between urban emission inventories, the use of the joint EMEP/CORINAIR Atmospheric Emission Inventory Guidebook (published by the EEA, first edition February 1996) is recommended also for urban inventories.

In addition to methods for these detailed inventories, an approach is proposed for the preparation of "top-down" urban inventories, derived from CORINAIR regional inventories (NUTS3). ETC/AE will prepare every 5 years a spatially detailed air emission inventory for Europe (see also the EEA reports on CORINAIR90 AND 94). Using the "top-down" approach, based on CORINAIR90, ETC/AE has in 1996 prepared inventories for the main European cities. In the absence of "bottom-up" inventories such top-down inventories are of interest for the comparison of the air emission and air quality situation of European cities on an aggregated level.