156th CoR Plenary Session (5-6 July 2023)

CoR Opinion Factsheet
Rapporteur: POWER Una, Commission: ENVE

Ambient air pollution is recognised as the single biggest environmental threat to human health (WHO, 2021). As part of the European Green Deal, the Commission adopted the EU Action Plan “Pathway to a Healthy Planet for All: EU Action Plan: ‘Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil’” on 12 May 2021. The Plan aims to reduce air, water and soil pollution levels so that they are no longer considered harmful to health and natural ecosystems by 2050. As part of this, the EU is revising the Ambient Air Quality Directives (AAQ Directives), to align air quality standards more closely with the WHO Guidelines (WHO, 2021). The revision also aims to build on the lessons learnt from the 2019 Fitness Check of the AAQ Directives (European Commission, 2019). The purpose of this study is to support the European Commission with the revision of the AAQ Directives and its accompanying impact assessment.

Air pollution is a cross-border problem with direct negative effects on health and the environment. It also has indirect but tangible adverse effects on economies and societies. With the aim of securing good air quality status for its citizens and the environment, the EU has established a policy framework that employs legal regulation as the main policy instrument. This European implementation assessment (EIA) presents findings on the implementation of three major pieces of EU legislation on air quality, namely the two Ambient Air Quality Directives and the Industrial Emissions Directive, and makes recommendations for policy action.

The Forum for Air Quality Modelling (FAIRMODE) is a European network to exchange experiences and competences on the use of air quality models in the context of the Ambient Air Quality Directives. Its purpose is to identify and promote the use of good practices for air quality modelling and to propose harmonized ways to assess the quality of model-based air quality applications by EU Member States. The recommendations in this document are part of FAIRMODE’s contribution to the on-going revision of the EU Ambient Air Quality Directives (Directives 2008/50/EC and 2004/107/EC, hereafter AAQDs) initiated by the European Commission and are an update of the previous recommendations to the Fitness check of those Directives.

The Ambient Air Quality Directives (2008/50/EC and 2004/107/EC, as augmented by Commission Directive (EU) 2015/1480)) (AAQDs) have been in legislation since 2008. This study builds on a recent Fitness Check of the AAQDs, which investigated its fitness for purpose and has explored specific issues within the topics of monitoring, modelling and air quality plans linked to governance processes, public communication and administrative burden. The aim of this project was to support the European Commission in strengthening the provisions for air quality monitoring, modelling and plans. In particular, this involved mapping and analysing established practice across Member States to identify key issues related to implementation of the provisions for air quality monitoring, modelling and air quality plans that would benefit from further guidance or clearer requirements.

With the aim of protecting human health and the environment from the harmful effects of air pollutants, the EU Ambient Air Quality Directives (AAQDs) 2008/50/EC and 2004/107/EC set standards and define specific responsibilities for EU Member States regarding monitoring and managing air quality as well as on reporting. Nevertheless, in recent years, scientific knowledge emerged and increased about possible health and environmental impacts of additional air pollutants. Such air pollutants, not explicitly covered so far, include ultrafine particles (UFP), black carbon (BC) / elemental carbon (EC), ammonia (NH3) and methane (CH4). On 22 September 2021 the World Health Organization (WHO) published updated WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines, which include so-called good practice statements for UFP and BC/EC (as well as for sand and dust storms). These good practice statements ask for integrating monitoring of these pollutants into existing air quality monitoring networks next to technical requirements for UFP monitors, reporting, emission inventories for BC and exposure assessments.

This report analyses the status of concentrations of pollutants in ambient air in 2020 and 2021 — presented by pollutant and related to both EU air quality standards and the 2021 WHO guideline levels. It presents the health impacts of exposure to key air pollutants, both in terms of mortality (for 2020) and morbidity (for 2019), and assesses progress towards the health-related objectives of the EU’s zero pollution action plan. The impact of air pollution on ecosystems is also considered. This includes an assessment of progress towards the zero pollution action plan target to reduce the share of ecosystems damaged by air pollution, as well as a review of the impact of ozone on agricultural production. Finally, it presents the status of emissions of key air pollutants regulated in the EU and assesses emissions trends over the period 2005 to 2020.

This chapter provides estimates of the health impactsresulting from exposure to fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ozone – both in terms of mortality and morbidity. It is the first time that EEA uses for these estimations the updated recommendations for mortality set out in the 2021 WHO global air quality guidelines. It also assesses progress towards the zero pollution action plan target of reducing the health impacts of air pollution by more than 55% by 2030.

This briefing reviews the status of countries’ air quality plans, put in place for situations where air pollution limits are exceeded. It also identifies the sources behind such exceedances. The assessment covers 21 EU Member States, as well as Norway and the United Kingdom. The European-level assessment is complemented by case studies providing examples of measures that have led to improvements in air quality in seven European cities or regions.