Context
The Gothenburg Protocol (GP) of the LRTAP Convention was last revised and amended in 2012. Among others, its Annex VIII specifies emission limit values for mobile sources, including road and non-road ones, as well as environmental specifications for fuels. The ‘Guidance Document on Control Techniques for Selected Mobile Sources’, supposed to provide guidance to the Parties of the Convention on how to reach the environmental targets outlined in the GP, dated from 1999, i.e., since the time of the original Protocol, needed to be updated to reflect the enlarged scope of the Gothenburg Protocol.
The former 1999 guidance document has been revised. The main revisions included the coverage of fine particulate matter (PM) emissions including black carbon (BC) and coverage of a wider range of mobile sources. Even more importantly, significant changes have occurred since 1999 both in the technological measures available to control emissions but also to non-technical instruments that are today available to abate emissions.
In this respect, it was necessary to outline possible candidate techniques or non-technical instruments that may be used to meet the environmental policy targets set forward by the revised GP. In this process, the identification of possible “Best Available Techniques” (BAT), i.e., measures that have a high probability to lead to actual emission reductions for mobile sources, were analysed and discussed to support Parties in their decisions.
A project has been contracted by the European Commission to support drafting a new Guidance document for mobile sources, to facilitate its communication and consolidation with the Parties to the Convention and to provide additional background documents and information that extends beyond the mobile vehicle categories currently included in the GP.
The work was carried out by EMISIA and IIASA.
Documents prepared
The documents prepared by EMISIA and IIASA are as follows:
- Best Available Techniques for Mobile Sources in support of a Guidance Document to the Gothenburg Protocol of the LRTAP Convention - Technical Report
- A Guidance document on control techniques for mobile source
The guidance document on Emission Control Techniques for Mobile Sources was adopted at the thirty-fifth session (Geneva, 2–4 May 2016) of the Executive Body. It replaces the 1999 guidance document on control techniques for selected mobiles sources (see EB.AIR/1999/2). It is available in English, French and Russian.