Expert workshop on the creation and uses of combined environmental and economic performance datasets at the micro-level - 10-11 July 2018 - OECD, Paris

1. The European Pollution Release and Transfer
Register (EPRTR)
Ulrich Wagner
University of Mannheim and ZEW
OECD Microdata Workshop
July 10, 2018

2. Research Question Data Results Remarks
1 Research Question
2 Data
3 Results
4 Remarks

3. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Research Question: Quantify co-benets of climate policy
Mitigating climate change requires curbing fossil fuel
consumption which accounts for 75% of carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions (the main greenhouse gas)
Fossil fuel combustion generates co-pollution that damages
human health, and also animal and plant health
Co-benets of CO2 abatement:
avoided damages from co-pollution
Climate policy instrument: European Union Emissions Trading
Scheme (EU ETS)
Data needs (at installations level):
Environmental: pollution emissions
Economic: trading decisions, permit prices, allocation

4. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Co-pollution of CO2: An example from the EPRTR
Niederauÿem lignite-red power station (RWE AG)

5. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Co-pollution of CO2: An example from the EPRTR
Niederauÿem lignite-red power station (RWE AG)
Releases to air in 2009 (based on EPRTR):

6. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Co-pollution of CO2: An example from the EPRTR
Niederauÿem lignite-red power station (RWE AG)
Releases to air in 2009 (based on EPRTR):
Carbon dioxide (CO2) 26.3 Mt

7. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Co-pollution of CO2: An example from the EPRTR
Niederauÿem lignite-red power station (RWE AG)
Releases to air in 2009 (based on EPRTR):
Carbon dioxide (CO2) 26.3 Mt
Nitrogen oxides (NOx /NO2) 15,400 t

8. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Co-pollution of CO2: An example from the EPRTR
Niederauÿem lignite-red power station (RWE AG)
Releases to air in 2009 (based on EPRTR):
Carbon dioxide (CO2) 26.3 Mt
Nitrogen oxides (NOx /NO2) 15,400 t
Sulphur oxides (SOx /SO2) 6,420 t

9. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Co-pollution of CO2: An example from the EPRTR
Niederauÿem lignite-red power station (RWE AG)
Releases to air in 2009 (based on EPRTR):
Carbon dioxide (CO2) 26.3 Mt
Nitrogen oxides (NOx /NO2) 15,400 t
Sulphur oxides (SOx /SO2) 6,420 t
Carbon monoxide (CO) 5,360 t

10. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Co-pollution of CO2: An example from the EPRTR
Niederauÿem lignite-red power station (RWE AG)
Releases to air in 2009 (based on EPRTR):
Carbon dioxide (CO2) 26.3 Mt
Nitrogen oxides (NOx /NO2) 15,400 t
Sulphur oxides (SOx /SO2) 6,420 t
Carbon monoxide (CO) 5,360 t
Particulate matter (PM10) 440 t

11. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Co-pollution of CO2: An example from the EPRTR
Niederauÿem lignite-red power station (RWE AG)
Releases to air in 2009 (based on EPRTR):
Carbon dioxide (CO2) 26.3 Mt
Nitrogen oxides (NOx /NO2) 15,400 t
Sulphur oxides (SOx /SO2) 6,420 t
Carbon monoxide (CO) 5,360 t
Particulate matter (PM10) 440 t
Chlorine (HCl) 135 t
Fluorine (HF) 10 t

12. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Co-pollution of CO2: An example from the EPRTR
Niederauÿem lignite-red power station (RWE AG)
Releases to air in 2009 (based on EPRTR):
Carbon dioxide (CO2) 26.3 Mt
Nitrogen oxides (NOx /NO2) 15,400 t
Sulphur oxides (SOx /SO2) 6,420 t
Carbon monoxide (CO) 5,360 t
Particulate matter (PM10) 440 t
Chlorine (HCl) 135 t
Fluorine (HF) 10 t
Mercury (Hg) 467 kg

13. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Co-pollution of CO2: An example from the EPRTR
Niederauÿem lignite-red power station (RWE AG)
Releases to air in 2009 (based on EPRTR):
Carbon dioxide (CO2) 26.3 Mt
Nitrogen oxides (NOx /NO2) 15,400 t
Sulphur oxides (SOx /SO2) 6,420 t
Carbon monoxide (CO) 5,360 t
Particulate matter (PM10) 440 t
Chlorine (HCl) 135 t
Fluorine (HF) 10 t
Mercury (Hg) 467 kg
Zinc (Zn) 261 kg

14. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Co-pollution of CO2: An example from the EPRTR
Niederauÿem lignite-red power station (RWE AG)
Releases to air in 2009 (based on EPRTR):
Carbon dioxide (CO2) 26.3 Mt
Nitrogen oxides (NOx /NO2) 15,400 t
Sulphur oxides (SOx /SO2) 6,420 t
Carbon monoxide (CO) 5,360 t
Particulate matter (PM10) 440 t
Chlorine (HCl) 135 t
Fluorine (HF) 10 t
Mercury (Hg) 467 kg
Zinc (Zn) 261 kg
Arsenic (As) 47 kg

15. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Co-benets lower costs of CO2 abatement
Niederauÿem power station and city of Cologne
Simulation studies estimate that co-benets range from 30% to
over 100% of the private costs of carbon abatement (Davis,
Krupnick McGlynn, 2000)

16. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Ex-post analysis of co-benets of the European Union
Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS)
Since 2005: Stationary emitters of
CO2 engage in cap-and-trade
More than 11,000 ETS installations in
31 countries emitting 2 billion tons
of CO2 (about half of EU emissions)

17. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Ex-post analysis of co-benets of the European Union
Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS)
Since 2005: Stationary emitters of
CO2 engage in cap-and-trade
More than 11,000 ETS installations in
31 countries emitting 2 billion tons
of CO2 (about half of EU emissions)
Carbon dioxide trades are 1:1 but they give rise to implicit trades in
co-pollution that
. . . change the spatial distribution of exposure to air pollution
. . . change aggregate pollution emissions
The EPRTR is the only data set that allows us to learn about those
trades.

18. Research Question Data Results Remarks
CO2 trades give rise to implicit trades of co-pollutants
Pollution intensity of two lignite-red power plants (2009)
1, 000 t CO2
−−−−−−−−→
RWE Niederauÿem (DE): 26.3 Mt CO2 PGE Belchatow (PL) 29.5 Mt CO2
Emissions of other gases in tons per kilo ton of CO2:

19. Research Question Data Results Remarks
CO2 trades give rise to implicit trades of co-pollutants
Pollution intensity of two lignite-red power plants (2009)
1, 000 t CO2
−−−−−−−−→
RWE Niederauÿem (DE): 26.3 Mt CO2 PGE Belchatow (PL) 29.5 Mt CO2
Emissions of heavy metals in kilo grams per kilo ton of CO2:

20. Pollution Trading Ratios Between Two Power Plants
(1) (2) (3)
Power station Implicit
PGE Beªchatów RWE Niederauÿem trading ratio
A. Pollutant Emissions under the Cap [in tons]
Carbon dioxide 29,500,000 26,300,000 1:1
B. Co-Pollutant Emissions [in tons]
Sulphur oxides 50,700 6,420 3:1
Nitrogen oxides 42,900 15,400 6:1
Carbon monoxide 8,420 5,360 1:1
Particulate matter (PM10) 1,810 440 4:1
Chlorine and inorganic compounds - 135 -
Fluorine and inorganic compounds - 10.3 -
Total organic carbon 76.9
*
- -
C. Toxic Co-Pollutant Emissions [in kilograms]
Mercury and compounds 1,580 467 3:1
Nickel and compounds 316 41.7
*
7:1
Zinc and compounds 316 261 1:1
Arsenic and compounds 285 46.7 5:1
Chromium and compounds 475 - -
Lead and compounds 316 - -
Copper and compounds 190 - -
Cadmium and compounds 29 - -
D. Hazardous Waste Transfers [in tons]
Disposal 214 5,570 1:29
Recovery 170 1,990 1:13
E. Exposure in NUTS 2 Region
Population 2,524,908 4,262,310
Inhabitants per square km 139 579

21. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Implicit trades are not one-for-one: Research Agenda
1 Has the EU ETS reduced average discharges of co-pollutants?
Ongoing research with Laure de Preux

22. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Implicit trades are not one-for-one: Research Agenda
1 Has the EU ETS reduced average discharges of co-pollutants?
2 How has emissions trading changed the spatial distribution of
conventional air pollution?
Ongoing research with Laure de Preux

23. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Implicit trades are not one-for-one: Research Agenda
1 Has the EU ETS reduced average discharges of co-pollutants?
2 How has emissions trading changed the spatial distribution of
conventional air pollution?
3 What are the implications for ...
Eciency
(Baumol Oates 1988, Mauzerall et al., 2005, Muller
Mendelsohn, 2009; Muller, 2012; Fowlie Muller, 2013)
Ongoing research with Laure de Preux

24. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Implicit trades are not one-for-one: Research Agenda
1 Has the EU ETS reduced average discharges of co-pollutants?
2 How has emissions trading changed the spatial distribution of
conventional air pollution?
3 What are the implications for ...
Eciency
(Baumol Oates 1988, Mauzerall et al., 2005, Muller
Mendelsohn, 2009; Muller, 2012; Fowlie Muller, 2013)
Equity: Environmental justice (cf. Fowlie et al., 2012)
Ongoing research with Laure de Preux

25. Research Question Data Results Remarks
1 Research Question
2 Data
3 Results
4 Remarks

26. Research Question Data Results Remarks
European Pollutant Release Transfer Register (E-PRTR)
Geo-coded industrial facilities
(=sub-plant) in the EU +5
Pollutant releases to air, water and
land
List of 91 pollutants
Reporting threshold for each pollutant
between 1 and 50 pollutants by facility
Annual reporting from 2007
Source: www.thru.de

27. Entity linking across large data sets

28. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Matching of EUTL to E-PRTR installations
6,589 EUTL
installations
(48.7%) matched to
5,745 EPRTR
facilities
Matched
installations
account for 92% of
EU ETS emissions

29. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Spatial distribution of installations
(137,253]
(114.5,137]
(98.5,114.5]
(83,98.5]
(71,83]
(64.5,71]
(59.5,64.5]
(55,59.5]
(51,55]
(45,51]
(42,45]
(40,42]
(38,40]
(36.5,38]
(35,36.5]
(31,35]
(27.5,31]
(24.5,27.5]
(21.5,24.5]
(19,21.5]
(14,19]
(12,14]
(8,12]
(6,8]
[1,6]
Number of facilities by NUTS2

30. Exposure depends on population density
(529,9,296]
(346,529]
(204,346]
(193,204]
(141,193]
(108,141]
(80,108]
(68,80]
[6,68]
Missing
Population density by NUTS2 in 2001

31. Research Question Data Results Remarks
1 Research Question
2 Data
3 Results
4 Remarks

32. Eect of trading for given cap: CO2 (Phase I)
Figure: ∆Emissions CO2
(90694,8755639]
(1,90694]
(-1,1]
(-62907,-1]
[-9539399,-62907]
Missing
CO2 change by NUTS

33. Eect of trading for given cap: NOx (Phase I)
Figure: ∆Emissions NOx
(230,19145]
(1,230]
(-1,1]
(-253,-1]
[-100866,-253]
Missing
TQA_NOX change by NUTS

34. Eect of trading for given cap: SOx (Phase I)
Figure: ∆Emissions SOx
(346,184667]
(1,346]
(-1,1]
(-202,-1]
[-24786,-202]
Missing
TQA_SOX change by NUTS

35. Eect of trading for given cap: PM10 (Phase I)
Figure: ∆Emissions PM10
(38,2860]
(1,38]
(-1,1]
(-31,-1]
[-7008,-31]
Missing
TQA_PM10 change by NUTS

36. Aggregate change in co-pollutant emissions due to trading
for xed cap
Reported: -777,551 tons of CO2

37. Equity: How do changes in SOx correlate with
demographics?
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
VARIABLES TQA_SOX TQA_SOX TQA_SOX TQA_SOX TQA_SOX
Income per capita -0.04 -0.09
(0.05) (0.06)
Population density -0.04 0.07
(0.04) (0.05)
Share of seniors 0.10** 0.23**
(0.04) (0.11)
Latitude -0.67* -0.50
(0.39) (0.33)
Longitude 0.20 0.03
(0.29) (0.24)
Constant 747.21 324.81 -1,553.12** 3,380.16* -556.50
(884.29) (202.13) (678.67) (1,757.25) (895.39)
Observations 1,140 1,136 1,146 1,179 1,130
R-squared 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.02
Robust standard errors in parentheses
*** p0.01, ** p0.05, * p0.1

38. Research Question Data Results Remarks
1 Research Question
2 Data
3 Results
4 Remarks

39. Research Question Data Results Remarks
Constraints for Research imposed by the EPRTR/EPER data
Imperfect EPER to EPRTR match for too many countries:
Limits panel data approaches to policy evaluation
E.g. Dierences in Dierences (starting year of policy coincides
with reporting changes)
Firm identiers are missing for many countries
Complicates aggregation of installations to the rm level
Complicate the linking to business datasets
We solved this for ETS rms, but not for controls

40. THANK YOU!