Published: 05 Jan 2011
- In recent decades, the EU has introduced
a range of policies to improve air quality
by controlling pollutant emissions. A new
report by the European Environment Agency
(EEA) evaluates three key instruments and
finds that they have significantly improved
Europe's air quality and reduced pollution-induced
health effects. There is scope for even
more progress, however, if countries achieve
all their binding commitments to reduce
emissions.
Industrial combustion
and road transport are major sources of
air pollutants that cause significant harm
to human health and the natural environment.
Together, they account for around 50–66
% of total emissions of particulate matter,
acidifying pollutants and ozone-forming
gases.
The EU introduced the
Euro emission standards for road vehicles
and directives on Integrated Pollution Prevention
and Control (IPPC) and Large Combustion
Plants (LCP) to reduce air pollutant emissions
from these sources. But how effective have
they been?
A new EEA study 'Impact
of selected policy measures on Europe's
air quality' aims to provide an answer,
analysing how much these policies have reduced
air pollutant emissions and improved Europe's
air quality compared to a 'no-policy scenario'.
It also explores how much better air quality
could be if the policies were fully applied.
Key findings
Road transport
Despite a 26 % increase in fuel use over
the period 11000–2005, the introduction
of the Euro vehicle standards has reduced
road transport emissions of carbon monoxide
(CO) by around 80 %, non-methane volatile
organic compounds (NMVOC) by 68 %, nitrogen
oxides (NOx) by 40 % and fine particulate
matter (PM2.5) by 60 % compared to a no-policy
scenario.
Due to lower emissions,
concentrations of particulate matter over
Europe have also been reduced far below
the levels that would have been observed
had no policies been in place. This is mainly
the case for densely populated areas in
western European countries. Such significant
reductions have not been observed in eastern
Europe.
Due to an overall decrease
in the emissions of ozone precursors (CO,
NMVOC, NOx), high daily ozone concentrations
have become less frequent over most parts
of Europe, especially in the Mediterranean
region.
Industrial combustion
Current emissions of NOx and sulphur oxides
(SOx) are significantly below the no-policy
scenario. The reduction in particulate matter
emissions from industrial combustion is
more significant than from the road transport
sector. The largest reductions have occurred
in major industrialised areas such as Germany,
Italy's Po Valley, the Netherlands and Poland.
Europe's air quality
has improved significantly in terms of both
acidifying pollutants (NOx, SOx) and fine
particulate matter. Concentrations of both
pollutants groups would be around twice
as high if no measures had been implemented.
The potential of existing
policies
Emissions could be reduced much further
if the latest Euro vehicle standards were
fully applied in all European countries.
This would mostly affect NOx emissions from
gasoline-fuelled vehicles and direct PM2.5
emissions from diesel-fuelled vehicles.
In many countries, NOx
and SO2 emissions could be approximately
halved if they were brought down to the
requirements set out in the LCP legislation.
Concentrations of PM2.5,
the pollutant of major concern in terms
of health effects, would decrease in most
areas if countries reduced emissions to
the requirements set out in the LCP legislation.
As emissions in Denmark, Germany and the
Netherlands are already largely consistent
with the LCP requirements, high reduction
potentials are mainly found in southern
and eastern Europe.
There is scope for even
further improvements in Europe's air quality
as many countries have not yet achieved
their binding emission reductions under
the National Emission Ceilings Directive.
Thank Yo
