New EU air quality rules: Air pollution still the top environmental health risk to Europeans

The health impact of Europeans’ long-term exposure to three key air pollutants (fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ozone) is improving, according to new figures published by the European Environment Agency (EEA).

Despite this, Europeans remain exposed to air pollutant concentrations well above recommended World Health Organization (WHO) levels, with nearly 240,000 deaths attributed annually to the issue. And a separate set of EEA data shows that nearly 75 per cent of Europe’s ecosystems are also exposed to damaging levels of air pollution.

For Europeans, air pollution is the top environmental health risk, causing chronic illness and attributable deaths, especially in cities and urban areas. 

The EEA’s data comes as the EU’s revised Air Quality Directive enters into force today. The directive introduces a 2030 target for new air quality standards aligned with WHO recommendations.

What is the EU’s revised Air Quality Directive?

The revised Air Quality Directive, which comes into force today, was first adopted in October. It has a 2030 target for new air quality standards that align with WHO recommendations and includes an obligation to monitor additional pollutants such as ultrafine particles, black carbon and ammonia.

In addition to premature deaths, the impacts from living with diseases related to air pollution are significant. The EEA says that it is vital that these impacts are considered when assessing the overall health burden of air pollution, as well as the benefits that would arise from cleaner air in Europe.

What is fine particulate matter?

According to the EEA, at least 239,000 deaths in the EU in 2022 were attributable to exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution above WHO recommended levels. This is a drop of 45 per cent from 2005, putting the EU on track to its 55 per cent reduction target outlined in the zero-pollution action plan for 2030.

But what is fine particulate matter? The EEA explains, “Particulate matter [PM] consists of a mixture of solids and liquid droplets. It can either be emitted directly or form when pollutants from various sources react in the atmosphere.

“It comes in different sizes: those smaller than 10 micrometres are able to enter our lungs and cause serious health problems; PM has been linked with illnesses and deaths from heart or lung disease.”

The EEA goes on to explain that the WHO has scientific evidence to show that the most harmful exposure to particulate matter is long-term exposure to fine particles – smaller than 2.5 micrometers - to which it attributes the 239,000 deaths.

In 2022, a further 70,000 deaths were attributable to exposure to ozone (O3) pollution and 48,000 deaths to exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution.

The EEA estimates that these attributable deaths could have been avoided by meeting the WHO’s guideline values in 2022.

Air pollution is also having an impact on nature

The EEA also looks at the impact of air pollution on Europe’s ecosystems, showing how vegetation is exposed to air pollutants and how this translates into crop yield and economic losses.

The EEA has found that nitrogen in the air can lead to changes such as which plant species can grow in an area. Notably, 73 per cent of EU ecosystems were above critical loads for 2022.

While the zero-pollution action plan is on target for fine particulate matter, it’s falling behind on nitrogen. The target is to reduce the area of ecosystems where nitrogen exceeds critical loads by 25 per cent by 2030, but this is currently unlikely to be met.

In addition, about one third of Europe’s agricultural lands were exposed to ground-level ozone concentrations above thresholds set by the EU. This resulted in crop damage, reduced yields and estimated economic losses of at least €2 billion.

And in 2022, 62 per cent of the total forest area in the 32 EEA member countries exceeded critical levels set to protect forests from ozone.

But there have been significant decreases in emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2) over recent decades, which has mostly addressed the problem of acidification.