Multi-effect Protocol
Encyclopedia
Protocol (politics)
Protocol can mean any logbook or other artifact of a political meeting between persons from different nations, such as the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. The most notorious example of a forged logbook is "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion"....
designed to reduce acidification, eutrophication
Eutrophication
Eutrophication or more precisely hypertrophication, is the movement of a body of water′s trophic status in the direction of increasing plant biomass, by the addition of artificial or natural substances, such as nitrates and phosphates, through fertilizers or sewage, to an aquatic system...
and ground-level ozone
Tropospheric ozone
Ozone is a constituent of the troposphere . Photochemical and chemical reactions involving it drive many of the chemical processes that occur in the atmosphere by day and by night...
by setting emissions ceilings for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and ammonia
Ammonia
Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or...
to be met by 2010.
The Protocol is part of the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution
Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution
The Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, often abbreviated as Air Pollution or CLRTAP, is intended to protect the human environment against air pollution and to gradually reduce and prevent air pollution, including long-range transboundary air pollution.-Overview:The convention...
. The Convention is an international agreement to protect human health and the natural environment from air pollution
Air pollution
Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or cause damage to the natural environment or built environment, into the atmosphere....
by control and reduction of air pollution, including long-range transboundary air pollution.
The geographic scope of the Protocol includes Europe, North America and countries of Eastern Europe, Caucus and Central Asia (EECCA
EECCA
Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia is a block of countries that includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.References:*...
).
Revisions are now underway to strengthen the Gothenburg Protocol and create new targets for 2020. Negotiating sessions typically twice a year at the United Nations Office at Geneva
United Nations Office at Geneva
The United Nations Office at Geneva is the second-largest of the four major office sites of the United Nations...
.
Purpose and history
Because pollutants can be carried many hundreds of kilometres by winds, pollutants emitted in one country may be deposited in other countries. Deposition of pollutants in a country can far exceed the amount of such pollution produced domestically due to pollution arriving from one or more upwindWindward and leeward
Windward is the direction upwind from the point of reference. Leeward is the direction downwind from the point of reference. The side of a ship that is towards the leeward is its lee side. If the vessel is heeling under the pressure of the wind, this will be the "lower side"...
countries.
In 1976, the environment ministers from Nordic
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
proposed a European convention on transboundary air pollution that emphasized sulphur compounds (Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP)). After negotiations, 34 countries and the European Commission signed the Geneva Convention in 1979. The convention came into force in 1983, and has now been ratified by 47 European countries, two North American
North American
North American generally refers to an entity, people, group, or attribute of North America, especially of the United States and Canada together.-Culture:*North American English, a collective term used to describe American English and Canadian English...
countries (Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the USA) and Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
. The CLRTAP now includes eight protocols that identify specific obligations to be taken by Parties.
The Gothenburg Protocol was signed on 30 November 1999 in Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
(Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
) to support the CLRTAP. The Gothenburg Protocol entered into force on 17 May 2005.
Protocol elements
The following are the main provisions of the Protocol:- Annex 1 - Critical loads and levels
- Annex 2 - Maximum allowable emissions (emission ceilings) are adopted for 2010 for sulphur, nitrogen oxides (NOx), Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and ammonia (NH3). The selection of the specific emission levels (in tons/year) were based on the predicted effects of the pollutants and the pollutant control options and costs. Emission limits are set for each participating country. Those countries participating in the Protocol ("the Parties") with significant emission levels of the most harmful pollutants and whose emissions are relatively cheap to reduce must make larger emission reductions.
- Annexes 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9 list 'limit values' for specific emission sources, such as for combustion plantsPower stationA power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
, electricity generationElectricity generationElectricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday...
, cementCementIn the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
production or dry cleaningDry cleaningDry cleaning is any cleaning process for clothing and textiles using a chemical solvent other than water. The solvent used is typically tetrachloroethylene , abbreviated "perc" in the industry and "dry-cleaning fluid" by the public...
. Best available techniques are required to control emissions.
-
- Annex 4 is for sulphur from stationary sources
- Annex 5 is for nitrogen oxides (NOx) from stationary sources
- Annex 6 is for Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from stationary sources
- Annex 8 is for fuels and new mobile sources
- Annex 9 is for ammonia (NH3) from agricultural sources
Guidance documents adopted together with the Protocol provide a range of abatement techniques and economic instruments for the reduction of emissions. Among the specific emission sources, the Protocol establishes NOx emission limits for large stationary engines. Emission limits for new stationary sources should be enforced within one year after the date of entry into force of the Protocol for the party in question.
- Maximum sulfur content is specified for gas oil fuels (other than fuels used in vehicles) at 0.2% effective by July 2000 and 0.1% by January 2008.
The details of the Protocol are identified in a series of Annexes that address specific pollutants and emission source sectors (e.g. Annex V: "Limit values for emissions of nitrogen oxides from stationary sources"). The Annexes typically allow Canada and the USA to participate with different commitments than other Parties to the Protocol. This is due to the different regulatory nature of Canada and the USA versus most European countries.
Implementation and results
In the EU, the Gothenburg protocol is implemented through the National Emission Ceilings (NEC) directive.Of all the countries that ratified the 1999 Gothenburg Protocol, most are expected to meet their obligations. Progress towards reducing sulphur emissions was greater than the Protocol commitments due to a widespread European shift from coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
to natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
as an industrial fuel in the 1970s and 1980s. As a result, the acidification of forests and lakes was halted in large parts of Europe. Reduction of NOx emissions from traffic has less than originally expected. The Protocol required only modest ammonia emission reductions and therefore in most parts of Europe, nitrogen deposition will increase.
It is predicted that the implementation of the Protocol in Europe will reduce sulphur emissions there by at least 63%, NOx emissions by 41%, VOC emissions by 40% and ammonia emissions by 17% compared to levels in 1990. In addition, Protocol implementation in Europe will:
- reduce the area of excessive acidification from 93 million hectares in 1990 to 15 million hectares;
- reduce the area of excessive eutrophication from 165 million hectares in 1990 to 108 million hectares, and;
- reduce the number of days with excessive ozone levels by 50%.
As a result, it is estimated that human life-years lost as a result of the chronic
Chronic (medicine)
A chronic disease is a disease or other human health condition that is persistent or long-lasting in nature. The term chronic is usually applied when the course of the disease lasts for more than three months. Common chronic diseases include asthma, cancer, diabetes and HIV/AIDS.In medicine, the...
effects of ozone exposure will be about 2,300,000 lower in 2010 than in 1990. In addition, there will be approximately 47,500 fewer premature deaths resulting from ozone and particulate matter in the air. Furthermore, the amount of vegetation
Vegetation
Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...
exposed to excessive ozone levels will be reduced by 44% from 1990 levels.
However, for large parts of Europe, human exposure to particulate matter and ozone will remain higher than recommended by the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
. In the Benelux
Benelux
The Benelux is an economic union in Western Europe comprising three neighbouring countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. These countries are located in northwestern Europe between France and Germany...
, the Po
Po River
The Po |Ligurian]]: Bodincus or Bodencus) is a river that flows either or – considering the length of the Maira, a right bank tributary – eastward across northern Italy, from a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face...
-area, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, the health risks will remain higher than for the rest of Europe. The East European
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
countries that did not ratify the Protocol are expected to suffer from increasing air pollution. Because of the great potential for low-cost emission reduction measures in this region, increased related policy efforts are underway for countries such as Russia and Ukraine. Abatement of emissions from shipping
Shipping
Shipping has multiple meanings. It can be a physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo, by land, air, and sea. It also can describe the movement of objects by ship.Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck...
and ambitious climate policy measures, offers possibilities to reduce air pollution in EU countries at relatively low costs. Additional concerns include the negative effects from the combustion of biomass and biodiesel on air quality.
Revisions of the Gothenburg Protocol
In December 2007, efforts began to revise the Gothenburg Protocol. The revisions are expected to include more stringent emission ceilings for 2020 including new ceilings for particulate matter (PM), updated technical annexes and guidance documents, and "aspirational" emission reduction targets for 2050. There is some interest in including measures in the Protocol to address short-lived climate forcers, such as black carbonBlack carbon
In Climatology, black carbon or BC is a climate forcing agent formed through the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuel, and biomass, and is emitted in both anthropogenic and naturally occurring soot. It consists of pure carbon in several linked forms...
.
Negotiations on the revisions are to occur from 2009 - 2011 to produce a revised protocol .
Work to revise the Protocol is coordinated by the Working Group on Strategies and Review and supported by varies technical groups, such as the Expert Group on Techno-Economic Issues.