Air Emissions Inventory for the Greater Metropolitan Region in NSW

Why do we need an Air Emissions Inventory?

Air pollution comes from many sources, so to find the best ways to improve air quality we need to know the contribution made by each source. Air emissions inventory data for NSW is available for the 2013 Calendar Year Air Emissions Inventory, 2008 Calendar Year Air Emissions Inventory and 2003 Calendar Year Air Emissions Inventory.

What is the Air Emissions Inventory?

The Air Emissions Inventory is a detailed listing of pollutants discharged into the atmosphere by each source type during a given time period and at a specific location. The study area covers 57,330 km², which includes the Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong regions (PDF 210KB), known collectively as the Greater Metropolitan Region. About 78% of the NSW population resides in the Greater Metropolitan Region.

The inventory includes emissions from biogenic (natural living), geogenic (natural non-living) and anthropogenic (human-made) sources, as follows

natural – biogenic and geogenic (such as bushfires, marine aerosols and vegetation)
commercial – non-EPA licenced premises (such as printers, quarries and service stations)
domestic-commercial – activities (such as wood heaters, residential lawn mowing and portable fuel containers)
industrial premises – EPA-licenced premises (such as coal mines, power stations and steel works)
off-road mobile – unregistered non-road vehicles and equipment (such as dump trucks, bulldozers, locomotives and marine vessels)
on-road mobile – road registered vehicles (such as registered buses, cars and trucks).

The inventory includes over 1,000 air pollutants, including

common pollutants, such as ammonia, carbon monoxide (CO), lead, oxides of nitrogen (NO_x), particulate matter ≤ 10μm (PM₁₀), particulate matter ≤ 2.5μm (PM_2.5), sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and total volatile organic compounds (VOC)
organic compounds, such as 1,3-butadiene, benzene and formaldehyde
metals, such as cadmium, manganese and nickel
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF)
greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O).

Where can I obtain additional information and data?

The Air Emissions Inventory information and data are available in a number of ways, ranging from a relatively simple brochure through to specialised queries from the Emissions Data Management System.

Air emissions data can be presented for the Greater Metropolitan Region Sydney, Newcastle or Wollongong regions, or for each of the 64 local government areas within the Greater Metropolitan Region. Emissions vary by month, weekday/weekend day and hour of the day, and can be presented on an annual, monthly, daily or hourly basis.

Detailed information about activity data, emission estimation methodologies, sources and emissions of all air pollutants included in the inventory are presented in the technical reports and Excel workbooks. Where relevant, the Executive Summary and Appendices from each of the technical reports are provided as a separate document.

The hierarchy of inventory information and data that are available is listed in Table 1 in order of increasing technicality, along with the intended target audience.

Table 1: Air Emissions Inventory information and data

Air Emissions Inventory information and data	Intended target audience
Brochure	General public
Air Emissions in My Community web tool
Excel workbook
Technical reports
Specialised queries from the Emissions Data Management System	Technical expert

You can view or download the information and data as follows:

For specialised queries from the Emissions Data Management System or other inventory information and data requests, please contact the EPA at air.policy@epa.nsw.gov.au.