About the NPI

The National Pollutant Inventory (NPI) is the only nationwide, publicly accessible inventory of substance emissions in Australia. By visiting www.npi.gov.au the  community, government and industry can explore key sources of information about pollution in Australia. The NPI program was established in 1998 to collect and collate the nation's emission data. It is a cooperative effort by the Australian, state and territory governments to help create a cleaner and healthier environment.

Why do we have a National Pollutant Inventory?

Australia's NPI is one of many pollutant release and transfer registers (PRTRs) around the world. Others include Canada's National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) and the United States' Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).

Governments provide this register as a means of informing the community about chemicals being emitted into the environment. The community's 'right to know' was identified as priority in the 1996 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recommendation that all OECD member countries provide public access to information concerning pollutant releases and transfers from various sources.

The legislative framework underpinning the NPI is called the NPI National Environmental Protection Measure (NPI NEPM). This was the nation's first NEPM and was agreed to by the Australian, state and territory governments in 1998. NEPMs set out agreed national objectives for protecting or managing particular aspects of the environment.

The main purpose of the NPI is to collect and publish information about emissions and substances on a geographical basis to help environmental decision making, to meet community on a geographical basis to help environmental decision making, to meet community righ-to-know obligations, and to promote the need for cleaner production and waste minimisations programs in industry, government and the community.

Where does NPI data come from?

Industrial facilities that exceed reporting thresholds for one or more substances are required to calculate and report the annual emissions that result from their operations.

The reported emission amounts are checked by the EPA and then published annually by the Commonwealth Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) through the NPI website. www.npi.gov.au

Information about the emissions of substances from other sources is collected and collated by the EPA in Queensland and equivalent agencies in other States and Territories. These sources include motor vehicles, other transport, lawn mowing, surface coating (e.g. painting), controlled burns, bushfires and small facilities.