Downwind — Environmental Risk by Address (EU)

An independent platform bringing EU environmental data onto a single address-searchable map — helping buyers, researchers, journalists and the public see what is recorded near a location, and by whom.

Data Layers

• Industrial emissions — E-PRTR: annual releases to air, water and land, reported by member states.
• Flood hazard — European Flood Hazard Map: modelled river flood extents by return period.
• Major-hazard sites — Seveso III establishments, from EEA and national registers.
• Radon priority areas — national geological surveys, where published.
• Bathing water — WISE annual bathing-water quality classifications.
• Protected areas — Natura 2000 sites designated under the Birds and Habitats Directives.
• Mining footprints — mapped surface footprints of mining activity.
• Water stress — WRI Aqueduct baseline water stress and drought indicators.
• Wildfire history — EFFIS satellite-derived burnt-area perimeters.
• Air quality — CAMS modelled forecasts, plus reference and citizen monitoring stations.
• Prevailing wind — Global Wind Atlas, used to show which direction emissions typically travel.

How to read it

Downwind reports what public registers record near a point — it does not score, rank or judge a location. Each layer states the date its data is current as of, and whether the country you searched is covered at all. A layer with no records says so explicitly, and distinguishes “this country is not covered” from “covered, no records at this point” — the two mean different things. Results describe an area around the point you entered, not a specific parcel.

Data Sources

• European Environment Agency — E-PRTR, Seveso establishments, WISE bathing water, Natura 2000
• European Commission, Joint Research Centre — European Flood Hazard Map; EFFIS burnt areas (Copernicus)
• Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service — European air quality forecasts
• National registers and geological surveys — Seveso and radon data for individual member states
• OpenAQ and Sensor.Community — reference and citizen air-quality monitoring
• World Resources Institute (Aqueduct 4.0), Maus et al. 2022 (mining polygons), Global Wind Atlas v4

Every layer carries its own attribution and licence in the app; the full per-source list is shown with each report.