Global PCB

Global historical PCB emission data

Contact: kbr@nilu.no

This web-page contain global historical atmospheric emission scenarios for PCBs from 1930 to 2100.

The most recent estimates are published in the paper:

Breivik K, Armitage JM, Wania F, Sweetman A, Jones KC. Tracking the global distribution of Persistent Organic Pollutants accounting for e-waste exports to developing regions. Environmental Science and Technology.

In this study, we introduce three new global emission scenarios, referred to as the baseline scenario, the default scenario as well as the worst-case scenario. While the latter two scenarios (default and worst-case) account for e-waste exports and imports, the former scenario (baseline) does not.

You may download the data here:

• Baseline scenario
• Default scenario
• Worst-case scenario

The annual data for 22 selected PCB congeners are gridded on a 1? x 1? latitude / longitude basis and the unit is tonnes per year.

We believe the most recent estimates are more reliable and realistic than past estimates. However, previous emission scenarios as published in 2002 and 2007 are available here.