As part of international agreements on climate protection and air pollution control, the Federal Government has committed itself to reporting national anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants. The Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) is responsible for all German greenhouse gas emissions reporting. Reporting on air pollutant emissions is the responsibility of the Federal Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection (BMUV). The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) is responsible for determining emissions from agriculture. On behalf of the BMEL, the Thünen Institute of Climate-Smart Agriculture compiles the annual agricultural emission inventory. Shown are emissions of CH4, CO2, N2O, NH3, NMVOC, NO and particulate matter from the area covered by reporting in the reporting sector ‘Agriculture’, i. e. animal husbandry and crop production. Emissions from changes in soil organic carbon stocks are reported in the sector Land Use, Land-use Change and Forestry (LULUCF). Emissions from upstream services (e.g. fertilizer production) and energy consumption in agriculture, which are reported in separate sectors according to the IPCC and air-pollution reporting rules, are also not considered here. This applies in particular to emissions from mobile and stationary combustion in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, which are assigned to agriculture in the classification according to the Federal Climate Protection Act.
The results and methodology of the emission inventories are published annually in the ‘National Inventory Report’ (NIR) for greenhouse gases and in the ‘Informative Inventory Report’ (IIR) for air pollutants. A separate ‘Report on Methods and Data’ (RMD) is published every year for the agricultural sector, which serves as additional document to the NIR and IIR. It documents in detail calculation methods, data sources and emission results of the current emission reporting submission.
On the ‘Reports’ menu option the report on methods and data of the present and past inventory submissions can be accessed. On the ‘Data’ tab access is given to the detailed emission results on district, federal and national scale.
For more information on research concerning climate protection and climate change at the Thünen Institute, visit the website of the Thünen topic ’Climate and Air’. Further information on the emission inventories at the Thünen Institute of Climate-Smart Agriculture can be found here.