Emission inventories, emission control options and control strategies: An overview of recent developments

Accurate emission inventories are crucial for informed decisions about emis sion control strategies. Emission inventory activities are now well establi shed throughout the world and a large body of resources is available to ass ist in estimating emissions at the global, regional and local scale. Work i s ongoing to refine methodologies and to address additional sources and pol lutants such as fine particulate matter. During the last decade innovative concepts for emission control legislation were developed. Market based instruments can achieve envisaged emission re ductions at lower costs than conventional approaches. Air quality managemen t is now understood as a multi-pollutant, multi-effect task, which offers a significant cost saving, potential if synergistic effects are fully utiliz ed. Integrated assessment models proved useful in managing the vast volume of relevant information needed for the design of cost-effective emission co ntrol strategies. Europe and North America have embarked on ambitious control strategies that will lead to significant reductions in the emissions of some of the conven tional pollutants (e.g., SO2, NOx, VOC). There are also first indications o f a structural break that could reverse the Iona-term growth trend of SO2 e missions also in the fast developing nations of Asia.