It was created in 1989 by merging the existing laboratories of the Environmental Protection Agency, which covered marine, freshwater and air pollution, soil ecology and analytical chemistry, with the Danish Wildlife Research, under the Ministry of Agriculture.

The research institute was detached from the ministry in 2007 and merged into Aarhus University as a separate unit with largely unchanged tasks and responsibilities.

It also undertook scientific consultancy work and monitoring of nature and the environment as well as applied and strategic research.

All tasks were transferred to and continue in the Danish Centre for Environment and Energy and the two research departments.

The Department of Atmospheric Environment has a staff of over 65 scientists and researchers who conduct work within the following fields: