PPP_emissions

R code to make the estimated use quantities of plant protection product active substances covering the European Union (EU) We present a dataset of estimated use quantities (also termed “emissions”) of plant protection product active substances covering the European Union (EU). Emissions of pesticide are estimated for all EU regions in kg applied to various categories of land cover, on the basis of data reported by 8 countries (Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Denmark, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands). The reported data were extrapolated to the rest of the EU using regression models taking into account climate and crop extent variables. The resulting estimates allow a representation of pesticide use in a spatially explicit way, aggregated by relatively small region (NUTS Level 3 of European statistical mapping units) and for various agricultural land cover classes within each region. We compare our estimates with aggregated data made available by EUROSTAT and with independent, detailed data for the United Kingdom, highlighting an error usually within one order of magnitude. This is the error margin that we expect when using estimated pesticide use as a surrogate of accurately reported data.