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NARSTO Workshop on Innovative Methods for Emission Inventory Development and Evaluation University of Texas, Austin October 14-17, 2003 |
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The Role Of Emission Inventories In Environmental Policy Decisions Over The Next Few Years In Canada, Mexico, And The US
Paul J. Miller
North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation
Montréal, Québec, Canada
North American emission inventories are increasingly sophisticated, with improvements in the level of detail, frequency of updating, and public access. Emission inventories, however, also vary considerably in different regions of North America in their methodologies, level of detail, and public accessibility. The need to develop regional plans to reduce visible haze, fine particles, smog, and long-lived air-borne toxics is creating greater pressure for developing high quality, comprehensive and current air emission inventories that can be exchanged easily across international boundaries. These emission inventories should be compatible so that they can be more easily incorporated into regional, bilateral and trilateral initiatives.
There are a number of policy drivers for developing compatible trinational air emission inventories in North America. These include:
- Domestic regulatory and statutory planning requirements that involve atmospheric modeling of airsheds across international boundaries, including multi-day smog or haze events and the longrange transport of persistent toxics in the environment.
- The need for sufficiently detailed information that allows planners to focus on where effective and practical reduction targets exist.
- Transparent data reporting of comparable quality across the three North American countries that can support possible future international emissions trading programs.
- Tracking of air pollutant and greenhouse gas emission trends to monitor the effectiveness of control measures across North America.
- Supporting public “right-to-know” policies through readily accessible information on air pollutants and greenhouse gases emitted in local communities and across the continent.
In June 2001, the environment ministers of Canada, Mexico and the United States, acting in their capacity as Council of the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), adopted a resolution promoting comparability of North American air emission inventories. As a result of this directive, the CEC is supporting work to develop a national air emissions inventory in Mexico, and to facilitate the cross-border exchange of air emission inventory information through linkages of existing databases.