Regional and Urban Air Quality in Europe

Abstract

AbstractAir quality in Europe has been considered an issue since the 1950s and has improved considerably over the past decades. Emissions in 2018 were reduced considerably as compared to 2005, with emission reductions of SOx of more than 50%, of NOx of about 40% and of PM10 of about 25%. Nowadays, many areas comply with the limit values of the European Union (EU). Still, it was estimated that 307,000 premature deaths resulted from exposure to fine particulate matter in 2019. Europe is an area with large regional differences in climate and population density, leading to large regional and seasonal differences in air quality: winter smog due to residential wood combustion, high ozone values in summer, forest fires in the Mediterranean and boreal forests, high mineral dust loads from road resuspension and desert dust inflow, and ammonia and resulting ammonium aerosol from intensive agriculture. Several Europe-wide collaboration structures resulted in a good monitoring network and provision of reported emission and concentration data. The zero pollution action plan and the current revision of the air quality directive of the European Union should lead to a further reduction in emissions and concentrations of air pollutants to reduce the number of premature deaths in EU member states with 55% by 2030 as compared to the 2005 level, with a reduction of 33% reached in 2019.