Towards a targetted emission reduction in Europe

Currently 20 European countries have stated that they will reduce their SO2-emissions by at least 30% in the years 1993–1995 based on 1980 emissions. Some countries will reduce more, e.g. France by 50 %. Although politically this is an important step, a more or less flat rate of emission reduction throughout Europe is not an efficient solution. The paper describes an alternate emission reduction targetted to those areas where depositions are high and taking into account the source-receptor relationships in Europe. The reductions are calculated by using the model RAINS which is being developed at IIASA. RAINS is a set of linked submodels dealing with energy scenarios, SO2 emissions, abatement options, long-range transport, deposition, forest soil acidification and lake acidification. For the purpose of this paper an optimization algorithm developed by R. Shaw and J. Young (AES, Canada) has been connected with RAINS. The results show optimal reduction patterns in Europe for a number of different receptor areas and alternative energy scenarios.