With its ‘zero pollution’ action plan unveiled on Wednesday 12 May, the European Commission is paving the way for the EU’s transition to zero pollution of air, soil, and water by 2050, with targets to be met by 2030 to achieve the ambition of a non-toxic environment for human health and natural ecosystems in the long term.
The Communication it adopted aims to prevent, minimise and remedy pollution by tackling all sources—from agriculture, households, industry, and transport—mainly by addressing implementation gaps in existing legislation, and by mobilising all actors (see EUROPE 12718/11).
Far from being revolutionary, it is a key element of the European Green Deal which seeks to encourage all sectors of activity, all authorities, and society as a whole to change their practices using a holistic approach in order to bring about a paradigm shift and thereby contribute to solving the dual crisis of climate change and biodiversity.
A working paper on digital solutions for citizen engagement, digital skills, and big data accompanies the action plan and is the main innovation.
“Our general principle is to avoid creating pollution. If pollution is unavoidable, it must be minimised, monitored and, if necessary, cleaned up”, Frans Timmermans, the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President in charge of the Green Deal, told the press. He added, “Strict implementation will ensure a good follow-through on the measures”, as a “message to co-legislators and Member States”.
Stressing that pollution, including noise pollution, affects the health of citizens and is one of the major causes of biodiversity loss and destroys ecosystems important for the fight against climate change, Commissioner for Environment Virginijus Sinkevičius said, “We have the obligation to reduce pollution at levels that are not harmful to people’s health”.
The 2030 targets. Under the proposed action plan, the EU will have to reduce by 2030:
– the health effects (premature deaths) of air pollution by more than 55%;
– the proportion of people chronically disturbed by transport noise by 30%;
– EU ecosystems where air pollution threatens biodiversity by 25%;
– the loss of nutrients, the use and risk of chemical pesticides, including the most dangerous ones, and the sale of antimicrobials for farm animals and in aquaculture by 50%;
– 50% of plastic waste at sea and 30% of microplastics released into the environment;
– significantly reduce total waste production and residual municipal waste by 50%.
Legislative actions. The EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability and the Farm to Fork Strategy, already presented, will play a key role. The review of environmental legislation will complete the package.
This includes a review of EU air quality legislation in 2022 to align it more closely with the latest World Health Organization recommendations. Alignment will not be complete, as the impact assessment is ongoing, as is the revision of the WHO standards. “We want a fair adjustment”, said a senior European official.
Also coming up: – the revision of freshwater and marine quality standards; – the reduction of soil pollution and improvement of soil restoration; – the revision of much of the EU’s waste legislation.
Asked whether noise pollution could be included in the revision of the EURO 7 standards, one European official could not say for sure, but assured that “inter-service cooperation within the Commission [was] intense”.
As for the inclusion of ammonia in the revision of the Industrial Emissions Directive, by including large farms, “this is an option” that the Commission is exploring. An impact assessment is underway.
Digital and regional involvement among other actions
The action plan foresees the launch of living labs for green digital solutions and “smart zero pollution” and the consolidation of EU zero pollution knowledge centres.
Bringing stakeholders together in the Zero Pollution Stakeholders’ Platform and promoting zero pollution production and consumption will help mobilise everyone.
The presentation of a scoreboard on the environmental performance of EU regions to promote zero pollution in all regions is announced.
Also planned are: – reducing health inequalities due to the disproportionate share of adverse health effects on the most vulnerable; – reducing the EU’s external pollution footprint by limiting exports of harmful and toxic products and waste; – stricter enforcement of European legislation, in collaboration with the environmental authorities.
NGOs point to a lack of ambition. For the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), the proposal fails to step up actions to prevent pollution at source and mainly lists the main existing legal obligations and ongoing revisions of EU legislation.
“The science is clear on the urgency of reducing all types of pollution, and citizens deserve the right to live in a safe and clean environment. The Commission is capping ambitions on the false assumption that there are safe levels of pollution. This is a missed opportunity to fully embrace zero pollution”, according to Patrick ten Brink, deputy secretary general of this NGO network.
This year’s European Green Week (1-4 June) will be dedicated to this ‘zero pollution’ action plan. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)