The objective of this paper is to integrate Spanish atmospheric pollution and macro-economic data in
order to identify the main drivers of atmospheric pollution in Spain. This paper uses data from the Satellite
Atmospheric Emissions Accounts as well as the 2002 input-output tables both published by the Spanish National
Statistics Institute. The identification and analysis of the input paths of air pollution in the Spanish production
system is performed using Structural Path Analysis (SPA) in a generalised input-output framework. This
methodology allows for the detection of “hidden” sectors in the generation of pollution. Our results rank the
energetic sectors, food processing industries, other manufacturing industries and transportation as the sectors with
the highest emission intensities. Our results also show the production layers contribution in each pollutant,
identifying fluorocarbons and ammonia as the substances with higher up-stream sources.
Keywords: Structural Path Analysis, Input-Output analysis, atmospheric emissions, Spain.
