The Australian National Pollutant Inventory Fails to Fulfil Its Legislated Goals

Nathan Cooper, Donna Green and Katrin J. Meissner
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Nathan Cooper: Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney 2052, Australia
Donna Green: Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney 2052, Australia
Katrin J. Meissner: Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney 2052, Australia

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-18

Abstract: Publically accessible pollution databases, such as the Australian National Pollutant Inventory, contain information on chemical emissions released by industrial facility and diffuse sources. They are meant to enable public scrutiny of industrial activity, which in turn, is meant to lead to industries reducing their pollution. In Australia, however, concerns have been consistently raised that this process is not occurring. To assess whether Australia’s National Pollutant Inventory is fulfilling its legislated goals, we examined the accuracy and consistency of the largest facility and diffuse source of airborne lead, a major pollutant of concern for public health. Our analysis found that the emissions estimates provided by the Inventory were not accurate and were not consistent with other sources of emissions within the Inventory, potentially distorting any user interpretation of emissions estimates provided by the National Pollutant Inventory. We conclude that for at least these important public health pollution sources, the Inventory does not fulfil its legislated goals.

Keywords: pollutant release and transfer registers; Australia; lead; national pollutant inventory; airborne emissions; Mount Isa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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