A further step was taken in Strasbourg on Wednesday 23 November towards significantly improving air quality in the EU by 2030. It was by a comfortable majority (499 votes to 177, with 28 abstentions) that MEPs formally approved the inter-institutional agreement on the revision of the directive on the national emission ceilings for certain pollutants (2003/235/EC, known as the NEC directive).
The pollutants covered are sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC), ammonia (NH3), and fine particulates (less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter).
Julie Girling (ECR, UK), who led the negotiations on behalf of the European Parliament, welcomed this significant step forward for public health. The agreement reached between Parliament, Commission and Council negotiators on 30 June will almost halve the EU’s 400,000 premature deaths every year linked to air pollution (see EUROPE 11592 and 11586). “The plenary session debate reflected the differences that remain on the level of the targets and on methane. It’s not a perfect agreement, it is a compromise”, she said before the vote as some MEPs were still expressing concerns.
Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete said he understood concerns over flexibilities and the non-linear trajectory for effort between now and 2030 but, he pointed out, the quality of national plans will be assessed. He said, too, that, following the trialogue negotiations, the Commission had adopted a declaration underlining the need to continue closely to monitor methane emissions (a pollutant not covered). “The Commission will consider measures, and if necessary proposing legislation, to reduce these emissions”, he stated. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)