ETC/ACC
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About ETC/ACC
Introduction
In 2001, the European Environment Agency (EEA) has established the European Topic Centre on Air and Climate Change (ETC/ACC).
In 2006 the EEA awarded a new 4-year framework agreement to a consortium of institutons that was slightly changed as compared to the earlier ETC/ACC. The new consortium started its activities on 1 January 2007, consisting of 11 European institutions, with the Netherlands Environmental assessment agency (PBL) as its lead organisation.
This centre builds on the experience gained by the former ETCs on Air Emissions and Air Quality. Over the past few years the scope has been broadened by:
- the inclusion of the climate change issue (mitigation as well as impacts, vulnerability and adaptation issues)
- an increased coverage of (integrated) assessment
- the geographical extension of the EU area.
The main task of ETC/ACC is to assist EEA in supporting EU environmental policy and legislative frameworks and allow for adequate responses to emerging needs. Such support is brought through improving monitoring reporting and information dissemination, and integrated assessments. To this end the causality chain of environmental policy making: Driving forces, Pressures, State, Impacts and Responses (DPSIR) is analysed in a balanced way. The ETC/ACC activities are focused on the support of EEA on two main policy processes and frameworks:
- Climate change:
- EU's Climate action and renewable energy package, with its
- Emission Trading System (EU ETS) including aviation
- Efforts Sharing Decision
- Renewable energy Directive
- Directive on carbon capture and geological storage of CO2 (CCS)
- (Reporting) commitments to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In this perspective, ETC/ACC supports several Working Groups under the Climate Change Committee
- Impacts, vulnerability and adaptation assessments
- EU's Climate action and renewable energy package, with its
- Air pollution:
EU's thematic strategy on air related to- Air quality, air polltant emissions including their sectoral contributions, and the impacts on ecosystems and human health
- The UNECE-Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution (UNECE-LRTAP) with its task forces, such as emission inventories and projections (TFEIP), modeling and measurements (TFMM) and integrated assessment modeling (TFIAM)