Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

1. INTRODUCTION

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to human health, causing an estimated 300 000 premature deaths per year in the EU alone. The European Environment Agency (EEA) has identified the most harmful pollutants to human health in Europe to be particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and ground-level ozone (O₃). Fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅) alone was responsible of 238 000 premature deaths in the EU-27 in 2020.

Scientific evidence shows that there is no safe threshold for the exposure to pollutants. These substances can have significant impact on our health, leading to debilitating diseases and causing conditions such as asthma, cardiovascular diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia, stroke, diabetes, lung cancer and dementia. Although everyone is affected by air pollution, certain groups are especially sensitive and vulnerable and more likely to experience adverse health effects, including those with specific pre-existing health conditions, pregnant women, newborns, children, the elderly, people living with disabilities or people living in poverty.

Air pollution also has a significant impact on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Acid deposition, resulting from the emissions of SO₂ and NOx, can cause acidification of soil and water, which can negatively affect plant growth and aquatic life. Elevated levels of O₃ can damage agricultural crops, forest and plants by reducing growth rates, lowering yields, and by affecting biodiversity and ecosystem services. Pollution can also lead to eutrophication, where excess nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, in the air or water lead to excessive growth of algae and reduce oxygen availability.

Air pollutants come from a wide range of sources, from anthropogenic, natural or mixed origin. Emissions from human activities are the primary sources of air pollution in Europe, and are generated by a variety of sectors across the economy: PM is emitted mainly by heating, industry and transport; oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and NO₂ are emitted by transport and energy production; most of sulphur oxide (SOx) emissions come from energy production and non-road transport; almost all ammonia (NH₃) emissions come from agriculture. The transport sector is one of the major contributors to air pollution, particularly in urban areas.

Although there is a downward trend in the emissions of all key pollutants in the EU-27, with the exception of NH₃, air pollution is still a significant burden and most of the European cities exceed the WHO's recommended limits for human health. According to the EEA, in 2020, 96% of the EU urban population exposed to PM₂.₅ concentrations above the WHO guidelines, 95% for O₃ and 89% for NO₂.

2. AIR QUALITY AND EU POLICIES

The EU has a long history of implementing air quality legislation. Starting with the first air quality directive in 1980, the EU has continued to introduce new and more stringent legislation over the years.

The current EU policy framework on air quality is based on three main pillars. The first one is composed by the Ambient Air Quality Directives (AAQ Directives), setting air quality standards and defining common methods for its monitoring and assessment. The second comprises the Directive on the reduction on national emissions of certain atmospheric pollutants (NEC Directive), which sets binding emission reduction targets for Member States (MS) on key pollutants and their precursors. The third pillar groups several EU legislative acts regulating air pollution from specific sources in sectors such as road transport, industry or domestic heating.

As part of the European Green Deal, the Zero Pollution Action Plan was presented in 2021, which comprises a series of measures to reduce pollution across the EU, including in air, water, and soil. The plan aims to set stricter pollution limits, promote cleaner technologies, and create a framework for addressing pollution challenges in a more coordinated and integrated way. It also focuses on reducing exposure to pollutants and its impact on ecosystems, establishing targets for 2030, such as to reduce by more than 55% the health impacts (premature deaths) of air pollution and to reduce by 25% the EU ecosystems where air pollution threatens biodiversity.

The revision of the AAQ Directives is one of key actions of the Zero Pollution Action Plan.

3. REVISION OF THE AMBIENT AIR QUALITY DIRECTIVES

The current AAQ Directives are based on air quality standards that are 15 to 20 years old. The Rapporteur welcomes the timely proposal of the European Commission (EC) to revise the AAQ Directives, that represents a substantial improvement from the current ones, covering some of the findings from their Fitness Check of the AAQ Directives and also including some of the requests made by the European Parliament in the resolution on the implementation of the AAQ Directives.

The Rapporteur considers that the EC proposal has some positive aspects, such as the merging of the two Directives into one to clarify and simplify the rules, the introduction of a regular review mechanism of the air quality standards in line with the latest scientific evidence, the creation of monitoring supersites to control “emerging” pollutants, or the introduction of new provisions on access to justice and compensation.

The current revision of the AAQ Directives constitutes a once in a generation opportunity for the public and the planetary health, therefore the Rapporteur suggests changes in some key areas in order to increase the level of ambition and re-inforce the proposal.

3.1. Level of ambition

The WHO published their new air quality guidelines in 2021, following a systematic review of the latest scientific evidence on health effects of air pollution. According to the Impact Assessment that accompanies the EC proposal, the net benefits of aligning the EU limit values to the current WHO AQ Guidelines would amount to more than EUR 38 billion and the corresponding mitigation costs estimated are EUR 7 billion in 2030. Air pollution is among the most important causes of cancer, in particular lung cancer. Stricter air quality standards would also contribute to the objectives of Europe´s Beating Cancer Plan, published in December 2021.

For these reasons, the Rapporteur proposes a full alignment of EU limit values with the 2021 WHO Air Quality Guidelines by 2030. The text is also strengthened with the inclusion of explicit references to the UN General Assembly resolution on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment and the individual right to a clean and healthy air as a direct implementation of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Although the new “regular review” mechanism introduced in Art. 3 of the proposal is an improvement, the Rapporteur believes it is important to clarify that any further proposal should comply with the “non-regression principle” to avoid a step backwards in the protection of human health in the future.

Given that sensitive populations and vulnerable groups bear a disproportionate burden, the Rapporteur thinks it is important to protect them better from the impact of air pollution. For that reason, information thresholds have been added for SO₂, NOx and PM. The public should be informed about levels of pollution in the air that may affect them, so that they can take measures to protect themselves, before the alert thresholds, which require public authorities to take urgent steps, are activated.

3.2. Assessment of air pollution

Poor air quality is a contributing factor to health inequalities, thus threatening equity inside and across MS. To guarantee equal protection for all, it is important that air quality is measured in the appropriate locations and from all emission sources. The EC Proposal allows to assess the average exposure indicator (AEI) on a very small number of sampling points based on urban background locations, which would result in an estimate of exposure that does not reflect real exposure of inhabitants. For that reason, the Rapporteur suggests to improve and clarify definitions of monitoring sites, in line with scientific knowledge, including new definitions for “traffic location”, “industrial location” and “residential location” and to require the assessment of the AEI from all sampling points.

The Rapporteur also proposes to set a smaller geographical area for the assessment of AEI and the average exposure reduction obligation. The currently proposed NUTS 1 is too large to detect relevant exposure disparities. Establishing the assessment at NUTS 2 rather than NUTS 1 level would reduce the chance that significant parts of the population are still exposed to levels close to the limit value even when the exposure reduction objectives are met. NUTS 2 areas correspond to administrative areas in MS, which would facilitate the authorities the compliance to average exposure reduction obligation.

3.3. Air Quality Plans and enforcement

Air Quality Plans (AQPs) are the cornerstone of the AAQ Directive, as they are key for compliance and enforcement. AQPs are required to be developed and updated to improve air quality in those zones where exceedances occur. The current proposal also introduces the requirement for MS to prepare an AQP ahead of 2030, setting out measures and policies to comply with the new air quality standards.

The Rapporteur believes it is necessary to clarify the distinction between plans that need to be adopted before or after the attainment deadline, which is why a definition of “Preparatory Air Quality Plan” has been proposed. The Rapporteur also suggests to introduce an earlier transposition date for the provisions on adoption of Preparatory AQPs. This change would enable MS to make a more rational use of their resources and start implementing policies well in advance to achieve compliance with the new air quality standards by 2030 at the latest.

The Rapporteur believes it is necessary to introduce changes to Art. 19 and Annex VIII on AQPs, to ensure that competent authorities consider and assess the potential impact of all relevant air pollution abatement measures and not only a few policies that have already been pre-selected without scientific evidence. The suggested amendments would require competent authorities to consider all effective pollution abatement measures, while respecting the principle of subsidiarity.

3.4. Public information

As reported by the European Court of Auditors, public information on air quality in the EU is scarce, unclear and hard to find. There are considerable differences in the design of air quality indices across Europe, leading to divergent assessments for the same air quality levels, and therefore reduced credibility. In this light, the Rapporteur believes it is necessary to introduce a requirement in the AAQ Directive to guarantee the harmonisation of air quality indices across all MS.