This paper presents an 18-year time series for anthropogenic emissions for the main air pollutants in Europe, distinguishing 15 main source categories. It provides a complete overview of emissions to air and is designed to support air quality modelling. The data build where possible on official country total emissions used in the policy processes, but where necessary alternative data were used. The emission data are spatially distributed at high resolution (~ 6 km x 6 km) in a consistent way.