Brussels, 08/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - The beginning of 2013 marks the start of the European Year of Air, and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) - the largest federation of environmental NGOs in Europe - is calling for EU policies on air quality to be tightened up in order to protect human health and the environment. The EEB's call was made at a high level conference at the North Rhine-Westphalia representation office to the EU in Brussels on Tuesday 8 January. The conference, “Blowing the Winds of Change into European Air Policy”, coincided with the publication of a Eurobarometer poll showing that air pollution is a major concern for most EU citizens, as 72% of respondents to the poll considered that public authorities are not doing enough to promote good air quality and 87% believed that respiratory diseases are a serious problem (see other article).
“Air pollution emanates from sources all around us - be they cars, industrial plants, shipping, agriculture or waste. The EU must propose ambitious legislation to address all of these sources if it is to tackle the grave public health consequences of air pollution”, said Jeremy Wates, the EEB secretary general.
Noting that air pollution from fine particles causes over 455,000 premature deaths every year in Europe - as revealed by a recent study by the European Topic Centre on Air and Climate Change (ETC/ACC) carried out for the European Environment Agency (EEA) - the EEB regrets that the standards currently in force in the EU for ambient air quality are weaker than those recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to minimise the effects on health of atmospheric pollutants. Premature deaths have a high economic cost in terms of hospital admissions, lost working days and damage to ecosystems, the EEB points out. For the finest particles (PM2.5), which are the most dangerous for human health as they penetrate easily into the lungs, the maximum concentration allowed is 25 µg/m3 - in other words, two and a half times weaker than the limit recommended by the WHO - and this maximum concentration will only come into force in 2015, the EEB notes. In comparison, the United States is much more ambitious on this as the American Environmental Protection Agency is this year proposing an annual limit of 12 µg/m3. In 2011, European Commissioner for the Environment Janez Potocnik said that the review of the directive on national emissions ceilings would be postponed until 2013. A public consultation is currently ongoing with a view to revising EU legislation on air quality (see EUROPE 10749). (AN/transl.fl)