Abstract
BackgroundThe paper presents an overview of air quality in the 27 member countries of the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (previous EU-28), from 2000 to 2017. We reviewed the progress made towards meeting the air quality standards established by the EU Ambient Air Quality Directives (European Council Directive 2008/50/EC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Air Quality Guidelines by estimating the trends (Mann-Kendal test) in national emissions of main air pollutants, urban population exposure to air pollution, and in mortality related to exposure to ambient fine particles (PM2.5) and tropospheric ozone (O3).ResultsDespite significant reductions of emissions (e.g., sulfur oxides: ~ 80%, nitrogen oxides: ~ 46%, non-methane volatile organic compounds: ~ 44%, particulate matters with a diameter lower than 2.5 µm and 10 µm: ~ 30%), the EU-28 urban population was exposed to PM2.5 and O3 levels widely exceeding the WHO limit values for the protection of human health. Between 2000 and 2017, the annual PM2.5-related number of deaths decreased (- 4.85 per 106 inhabitants) in line with a reduction of PM2.5 levels observed at urban air quality monitoring stations. The rising O3 levels became a major public health issue in the EU-28 cities where the annual O3-related number of premature deaths increased (+ 0.55 deaths per 106 inhabitants).ConclusionsTo achieve the objectives of the Ambient Air Quality Directives and mitigate air pollution impacts, actions need to be urgently taken at all governance levels. In this context, greening and re‐naturing cities and the implementation of fresh air corridors can help meet air quality standards, but also answer to social needs, as recently highlighted by the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Highlights
The paper presents an overview of air quality in the 27 member countries of the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom, from 2000 to 2017
Through an extensive literature review and trends analysis, this study aims to (i) quantify the annual trends in national emissions of main air pollutants in the EU-28 countries over the time period 2000–2017, (ii) analyze the trends in real-world air pollutants concentrations over the last two decades; (iii) assess the effectiveness of emissions control policies for reducing the exposure of EU-28 population to ambient air pollution, and (iv) evaluate the impact of control policies on the number of premature deaths attributed to exposure to ambient PM2.5 and O3 levels over time
The EU-28 urban population exposure was estimated by the European Environmental Agency (EEA) from data reported in Airbase, and the number of premature deaths attributed to exposure to ambient PM2.5 and O 3 were obtained by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development3 (OECD)
Summary
The paper presents an overview of air quality in the 27 member countries of the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (previous EU-28), from 2000 to 2017. We reviewed the progress made towards meeting the air quality standards established by the EU Ambient Air Quality Directives (European Council Directive 2008/50/ EC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Air Quality Guidelines by estimating the trends (Mann-Kendal test) in national emissions of main air pollutants, urban population exposure to air pollution, and in mortality related to exposure to ambient fine particles (PM2.5) and tropospheric ozone (O3). Outdoor air pollution is a major global public health issue [48], leading to 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide [74] and half a million in the European Union (EU) in 2016 [24]. Air pollution damages plant ecosystems [35, 49, 63], and surface O3 is considered as the most detrimental air pollutant in terms of effects on vegetation and biodiversity [1, 52, 63].
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