On Thursday 29 August, the European Environment Agency (EEA) updated its European city air quality viewer. The tool ranks 375 cities on the basis of average levels of fine particles (PM2.5) - three out of four Europeans live in urban areas.
Only 13 European cities fall within the limits set by the World Health Organization (WHO), i.e. below an average of 5 micrograms of fine particles per cubic metre of air. These include four Nordic capitals, notes the EEA: Reykjavik, Tallinn, Stockholm and Helsinki.
The current EU limit has been 25 micrograms of fine particles per cubic metre of air since 2008 - some way from the standards set by the WHO. The WHO states that between 15 and 25 μg/m3, the air is of “poor quality”. A revision of the ambient air quality directives is underway, however, as a political agreement between the Council of the EU and the European Parliament has lowered this limit to 10 μg/m3. Formally adopted by Parliament on Wednesday 24 April (see EUROPE 13399/15), it still has to be adopted by the Council of the EU. 180 EEA cities already have average concentrations of fine particles below this future limit.
In 2021, an EEA report estimated that 300,000 premature deaths in Europe would be caused by air pollution. The ‘zero pollution’ action plan of the European Green Deal aims to reduce premature deaths caused by fine particles by at least 55% compared to 2005 levels. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)