Overview 

This section contains summaries of information about air quality pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHGs).  There is also access to a wide range of more detailed information about the levels and trends in emissions of these pollutants, and their sources.  The three menu options on the left allow users to:

  • gain an overview of the importance, sources and trends in emissions of air quality pollutants and GHGs
  • investigate in more detail the sources, environmental and human health effects and trends in emissions of the wide range of pollutants recorded in the NAEI
  • understand the methods used to generate projections of air quality pollutants and GHGs, and access data sets of projections

The menu options on the right provide access to other useful information.  This includes detailed UK emissions data, accessible via the UK emissions data selector, the emission factors used to generate estimates of emissions, and the reports generated from the NAEI work programme.

There are a number of international commitments including commitments to the United Nations, and other national legislation aimed at reducing emissions of air pollutants and GHGs. The NAEI provides a wide range of data necessary to support the reporting associated with these commitments.  Full details of the UK’s commitments can be found on the BEIS website for GHGs and Defra website for air pollutants.  Examples of international commitments for:

  • Air quality pollutants include the UNECE-Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution and the National Emissions Ceiling Regulations
  • GHGs include the UK's commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, and as part of the EU's GHG Monitoring Mechanism until 2022, and under the Paris Agreement from 2024

Page last modified: 19 July 2022