A quantitative assessment of emissions from air pollution sources is required in taking appropriate action to improve air quality. Emission Inventories or ‘EI’ and Air Quality Models are tools used to determine specific source types and their contribution to pollution level and to provide data on how the pollutants are dispersed or transported and distributed in an area, respectively. These tools provide basis to evaluate the effectiveness of measures to protect human health and the environment and serve as guide for clean air action plans and to strengthen air quality management.

In Guidance Area 2, learners will understand key factors and processes involved in conducting emissions inventory and air quality modeling and identify priorities and appropriate measures to develop/improve emissions inventory processes and modeling. This module is divided into two sections: 1) Emissions Inventory – discusses what is emissions inventory and the information it can provide, different sources of air pollutants, approaches and steps in building an EI, and sample emissions calculations; and 2) Air Quality Modeling – discusses the general types of air quality models (dispersion, photochemical and receptor models), components and data input including meteorological parameters and their influence to air quality.