Despite slow improvements towards less-polluted air quality, air pollution continues to exceed the limits set by EU legislation and especially by the stricter WHO guidelines, according to the latest data published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) on Monday 29 October.
The EEA “Air Quality in Europe – 2018 Report” is based on data reported by more than 2,500 monitoring stations across Europe in 2016.
It shows that air pollution continues to be a danger for public health and the environment. Particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ground level ozone (O3) cause the greatest harm to human health.
The report points to road transport as being one of the main causes of such pollution in Europe (especially NO2 and particulate matter). However, it also underlines the need for efforts to be stepped up to tackle pollution from energy production, industry, households and farming.
PM 2.5: 6% of the urban population was exposed to particulate matter in 2016 (compared to 7% in 2015). However, 74% of the EU’s urban population was exposed to concentrations above WHO limits.
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2): In 2016, 7% of the EU’s urban population lived in areas where concentrations were above the annual limit value set by the EU and by WHO guidelines (compared to 9% in 2015). Exposure to NO2 was responsible for around 79,000 premature deaths in 41 European countries in 2015.
Ground level ozone: 12% of the EU’s urban population was exposed to concentrations of 03 above the EU target value in 2016, i.e. a considerable reduction compared to 2015 (-30%), but a percentage above that in 2014 (7%). In 2016, some 98% of citizens were exposed to concentrations above the limits recommended by the WHO. Exposure to ozone was responsible for some 17,700 premature deaths in 41 European countries in 2015.
Policies conducted in the past, those underway and technological developments have made it possible to make slow but constant progress towards reducing such an adverse impact. According to the latest estimates set out in the report, concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) were responsible for some 422,000 premature deaths in 41 European countries in 2015, including around 391,000 in the 28 EU member states.
A more general assessment dating back to 1990 shows that the number of premature deaths due to PM 2.5 has been cut by around half a million per year. This can be explained by the implementation of European air quality policies and the introduction of measures at national and local level which have led, for example, to cleaner cars, industry and energy production, the EEA highlights.
The EEA report can be found online at: https://bit.ly2qhbcfp. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)