Ambient Air Quality Directives Research Articles

Taking Stock of the Revision to the Ambient Air Quality Directives in Europe

Taking Stock of the Revision to the Ambient Air Quality Directives in Europe

Using dispersion models at microscale to assess long-term air pollution in urban hot spots: A FAIRMODE joint intercomparison exercise for a case study in Antwerp

In the framework of the Forum for Air Quality Modelling in Europe (FAIRMODE), a modelling intercomparison exercise for computing NO2 long-term average concentrations in urban districts with a very high spatial resolution was carried out. This exercise was undertaken for a district of Antwerp (Belgium). Air quality data includes data recorded in air quality monitoring stations and 73 passive samplers deployed during one-month period in 2016. The modelling domain was 800 × 800 m2. Nine modelling teams participated in this exercise providing results from fifteen different modelling applications based on different kinds of model approaches (CFD – Computational Fluid Dynamics-, Lagrangian, Gaussian, and Artificial Intelligence). Some approaches consisted of models running the complete one-month period on an hourly basis, but most others used a scenario approach, which relies on simulations of scenarios representative of wind conditions combined with post-processing to retrieve a one-month average of NO2 concentrations.The objective of this study is to evaluate what type of modelling system is better suited to get a good estimate of long-term averages in complex urban districts. This is very important for air quality assessment under the European ambient air quality directives. The time evolution of NO2 hourly concentrations during a day of relative high pollution was rather well estimated by all models. Relative to high resolution spatial distribution of one-month NO2 averaged concentrations, Gaussian models were not able to give detailed information, unless they include building data and street-canyon parameterizations. The models that account for complex urban geometries (i.e. CFD, Lagrangian, and AI models) appear to provide better estimates of the spatial distribution of one-month NO2 averages concentrations in the urban canopy. Approaches based on steady CFD-RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes) model simulations of meteorological scenarios seem to provide good results with similar quality to those obtained with an unsteady one-month period CFD-RANS simulations.

Air Pollution as a Whole: The Court of Justice Strengthens Environmental Standards in the Ambient Air Quality Directive over Contrasting Industrial Emissions Directive Derogations

Abstract On 9 March 2023, the Court of Justice (Second Chamber) delivered a preliminary ruling about the coordination of two European Union measures against air pollution: the Industrial Emissions Directive and the Ambient Air Quality Directive. Upon assessment, the Court reinforced the mandatory nature of the air quality limit values vis-à-vis possible derogations foreseen in the Industrial Emissions Directive. In this case, both AG Kokott and the Second Chamber affirmed the primacy of the air quality standards. However, this Case Note finds that slightly different reasoning between the AG Opinion and the final Judgment reveals differing underlying approaches. Whilst the AG focuses on air quality plans and leaves more room for discretion to national authorities, the final Judgment anchors the coordination of the two Directives to strict and objective pollution limit values, further strengthening the Ambient Air Quality Directive as an effective instrument of environmental protection litigation.

Satellite-based assessment of national carbon monoxide concentrations for air quality reporting in Finland

Carbon monoxide (CO) has negative health effects, especially on the respiratory system, when present in large concentrations in ambient air. Therefore, it is one of the 12 air pollutants with monitoring and assessment obligations set by the European Union Ambient Air Quality Directives. With low CO concentrations in Finland, continuous surface measurements are not compulsory but the monitoring and assessment obligation remains. Currently, there are no air quality stations equipped with CO measurements in Finland, and the assessment can only be based on emission estimates.In this work, we demonstrate the use of satellite-based CO measurements from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on-board Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite (S5P) to strengthen the assessment with actual measurements. Averaging satellite measurements over several years reveals the spatial distribution of CO with nationwide coverage in city-scale resolution. Individual satellite measurements, in turn, are used to estimate the surface concentrations and their annual variability in different regions in Finland.For the surface estimates, we used a simple and robust linear model between the satellite measurements and ground-level in-situ measurements. We found that the linear model produces reasonable surface concentration estimates to be used in air quality assessments where the objective is to evaluate whether the monitoring threshold set by the EU is exceeded on a yearly scale. It is noted that cloudiness can cause local data gaps of several days and the low solar elevation angles prevent satellite measurements from 9 to 18 weeks during the winter time in Finland.In Finland, the average total columns show low spatial variability, with only a few high-concentration areas identified. For the last three years, the estimated surface concentrations have stayed well below the lower assessment threshold set by the Air Quality Directive.

Revised EU and WHO air quality thresholds: Where does Europe stand?

One year after the new WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines were published, the European Commission proposed revisions to the Ambient Air Quality Directives, seeking to align European Union air quality standards more closely with WHO recommendations. Here, we employed Bayesian geostatistical regression models to estimate at 1km2 spatial resolution the number of Europeans that would be currently exposed to levels above the new suggested thresholds for the three most harmful pollutants, namely PM2.5, PM10, and NO2. The results have shown that in 2021, 97.6% (95% credible interval: 95.1, 99.2%) of the total European population was exposed to PM2.5 levels exceeding the new WHO annual limit values, while 47.5% (36.2, 59.5%) lived in areas where the revised EU thresholds were exceeded. For PM10, the proportion of people exposed to concentrations above the WHO annual thresholds was estimated at 62.5% (54.0, 70.9%) and at 29.6 (21.9, 37.0%) above the EU values, whereas for NO2, the estimates were at 67.4% (57.9, 75.8%) and 20.2% (13.3, 28.5%), respectively. Our high-resolution model-based predictions are readily available to support policy makers and scientists working toward achieving the ambitious European zero-pollution vision for 2050.

State liability for health damage caused by excessive air pollution: Constitutinal and Private Law aspects

Air pollution severely damages human health and causes premature deaths. In order to fight against it, the European Commission initiated a revision of the Ambient Air Quality Directives aiming to improve the quality of outdoor air and to reach the Zero Pollution goal. However, the CJEU is already facing requests for a preliminary ruling dealing with state liability for health damage caused by excessive air pollution. The old common law maxim <The King does no wrong= according to which a citizen may not seek redress from the government for wrongs committedmby the latter has long been surpassed. The institution of state liability is thus a widely recognised concept. The paper analyses the main features of state liability for health damage caused by polluted air and its boundaries. It focuses on the recent development of EU law in this regard and the established case law of the ECtHR. Since the right to a healthy living environment is recognised by several constitutions across the world, including Slovenia, the paper deals also with the Slovenian case law on state liability for damages caused by air and noise pollution from road and rail transport.

한국과 유럽연합의 미세먼지 대응에 관한 비교법적 연구

Entering the 21st century, the whole world is paying much attention to environmental issues. In the past, environmental problems were regarded as national laws and policies or subjects of discussion by experts, but as the general public gradually began to feel environmental problems, it became a problem for all levels of the world to seek solutions. As a representative example, disasters such as floods and droughts have occurred all over the world due to the impact of the climate crisis, and many people are suffering damage, which also affects crops and fruit yields, resulting in economic problems. In Korea, record- breaking heavy rains fell in 2022, and as many people began to suffer damage, it became an opportunity to have a lot of interest in environmental issues. Another problem is that of fine dust. Fine dust refers to extremely small particles floating in the air in a solid or liquid state. Fine dust originally began to be managed comprehensively as one of the elements of air quality pollution. It began to be separately regulated and managed through the Special Act on Dust Reduction and Management”. Fine dust meant particles of 10 μm or less, but since the smaller the fine dust, the greater the damage, the ultra-fine dust of 2.5 μm or less was separately defined and started to be managed. Fine dust was also a field that was not of great interest unless those involved were involved, but around 2018, many articles on the effect of fine dust were published, and poor air quality was observed every day, The general public has come to regard fine dust as a serious problem. As a result, the demand for air purifiers among home appliances continues to rise due to the influence of fine dust, and interest in KF masks has also increased due to the corona crisis. In Korea, fine dust is managed through so-called ‘Eight Fine Dust Acts’. They are the ｢Special Act on the Reduction and Management of Fine Dust｣, ｢Indoor Air Quality Control Act｣, ｢Special Act On The Improvement Of Air Quality In Air Control Zones｣, ｢Clean Air Conservation Act｣, ｢School Health Act｣, ｢Framework Act On The Management Of Disasters And Safety｣, ｢Safety Control And Business Of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Act｣, ｢Special Act On The Improvement Of Air Quality In Port Areas｣ However, due to the nature of fine dust spreading through the air, it is difficult to say that it is a problem unique to one country and must be resolved through international cooperation. In consideration of this point, matters regarding international cooperation have been added to fine dust-related laws in Korea, but this is still a matter that requires further discussion. In the European Union, there are laws related to fine dust such as ｢European Climate Act｣, European Green Deal, National Emission Ceiling Directive, Ambient Air Quality Directive, Clean Air Policy Package for Europe, Directive on Ambient Air Quality and Cleaner Air for Europe. The European Union manages fine dust through these air quality guidelines. The European Union has legal characteristics that can manage a wide scale due to its structure, and countries outside the EU are also integrated through the ‘Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution’. Considering the characteristics of the fine dust problem that occurs over a wide range, Korea also needs to consider the characteristics of the European Union's EU-scale guidelines and matters related to international agreements.

Clean air in Europe for all: A call for more ambitious action.

Clean air in Europe for all: A call for more ambitious action.

Just translation? A socioecological justice lens on EU environmental governance and urban mobility transitions

EU environmental policies such as the Ambient Air Quality Directive 2008/50 are highly relevant in this age of the looming climate crisis and interconnected sustainable transitions. However, implementation efforts such as low-emission zones, road pricing, and driving bans affect citizens in heterogenous situations and in ways that evoke questions of socioecological justice. This has resulted in an increasingly polarized reluctance to respective governance across Europe. The EU policy implementation literature often omits these less clearly operationalized norms that EU policies transport and pays little attention to how stakeholders in cities discursively and practically translate EU directives. Constructivist norm research underlines the importance of ‘localizing’ by highlighting that justice does matter for norm translation. The environmental justice concept has, however, not been systematically introduced and referenced in the norm research literature. This article offers a heuristic to address this research gap by combining a translation perspective from International Relations norm research with an environmental justice lens. Following the journey of the Air Quality Directive 2008/50, we ask how urban implementation configures the Directive’s environmental justice dimension and why this is important for effective and sustainable EU governance. Empirically, we focus on action plans and participation processes regarding Directive 2008/50 in Brussels, Glasgow, and Hamburg. As a result, we show that EU environmental governance unfolds at the local level as a dynamic contestation of different distributive justice claims that then translate into concrete policies. The analysis indicates that those policies must procedurally integrate local knowledge and identity formation to enable comprehensively just sustainable transformations.

Benefits of future clean air policies in Europe: Proposed analyses of the mortality impacts of PM2.5 and NO2.

Benefits of future clean air policies in Europe: Proposed analyses of the mortality impacts of PM2.5 and NO2.

NGOs as new Guardians of the Treaties? Analysing the effectiveness of NGOs as decentralised enforcers of EU law

ABSTRACT The European Union is increasingly resorting to a decentralised enforcement strategy in which it relies less on the Commission-initiated infringement procedure, and more on domestic litigation by particularly NGOs. In order to better understand whether this is a suitable strategy to tackle the compliance deficit, we need more insight into NGOs as decentralised enforcers of EU law. What do NGOs do to stimulate domestic compliance, and is this a potentially effective alternative to the centralised enforcement strategies? Analysing the actions by the German NGO Deutsche Umwelthilfe in relation to the Ambient Air Quality Directive, reveals high potential for the role to be played by NGOs. This exploratory case illustrates that particularly the strategy of flooding the country with a wave of legal proceedings was effective in increasing the salience of the topic, thereby indirectly releasing those capacities that the authorities had still lacked to comply.

Driving bans for diesel cars in German cities: The role of ENGOs and Courts in producing an unlikely outcome

AbstractDriving bans for diesel cars have been adopted, are looming or have been narrowly avoided in 41 major German cities as of April 2021. This paper analyses this highly unlikely outcome of a political process that began in 2010 by addressing a number of causal factors and qualifying the weight and the way in which they contribute to the overall result. First, in the category of institutions, there are the European Ambient Air Quality Directive and the right of environmental associations to sue; second, the striking failure to adopt alternative measures to significantly reduce NO2 concentration; third, in the category of actors there is the Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) utilizing the right to take legal action in its “fight for clean air” as well as the German administrative courts which handled the legal cases filed by the DUH by placing great emphasis on health protection and compliance with European law.

Urban population exposure to air pollution in Europe over the last decades

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.

A framework for assessing the contribution of UK local authorities toward compliance with the EU ambient air quality directive

Implementation outcomes of the Ambient Air Quality Directive (AAQD) (2008/50/EC)) are weak across European Union (EU) member states. In the UK, Local Authorities (LAs) must work toward reducing air pollution, however, means of assessing the extent and effectiveness of their contribution are limited. This paper develops a framework to evaluate policies implemented by UK LAs to address air pollution and applies it to Air Quality Action Plans (AQAP) of five cities. It looks at how, and the extent to which, LA air quality policies align with AAQD requirements, thus advancing empirical and academic knowledge on implementation literature surrounding multi-level governance, specifically the policy disconnect between the AAQD and UK Local Air Quality Management (LAQM). The application of the framework shows how LAs can better integrate AQAPs into their LAQM plans to assess, develop, improve and implement their air quality policies on the ground.

UK surface NO2 levels dropped by 42 % during the COVID-19 lockdown: impact on surface O3

Abstract. We report changes in surface nitrogen dioxide (NO2) across the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic when large and rapid emission reductions accompanied a nationwide lockdown (23 March–31 May 2020, inclusively), and compare them with values from an equivalent period over the previous 5 years. Data are from the Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN), which forms the basis of checking nationwide compliance with ambient air quality directives. We calculate that NO2 reduced by 42 %±9.8 % on average across all 126 urban AURN sites, with a slightly larger (48 %±9.5 %) reduction at sites close to the roadside (urban traffic). We also find that ozone (O3) increased by 11 % on average across the urban background network during the lockdown period. Total oxidant levels (Ox=NO2+O3) increased only slightly on average (3.2 %±0.2 %), suggesting the majority of this change can be attributed to photochemical repartitioning due to the reduction in NOx. Generally, we find larger, positive Ox changes in southern UK cities, which we attribute to increased UV radiation and temperature in 2020 compared to previous years. The net effect of the NO2 and O3 changes is a sharp decrease in exceedances of the NO2 air quality objective limit for the UK, with only one exceedance in London in 2020 up until the end of May. Concurrent increases in O3 exceedances in London emphasize the potential for O3 to become an air pollutant of concern as NOx emissions are reduced in the next 10–20 years.

Health impacts of air pollution in Bulgaria

Abstract Background Air pollution is a major cause of premature death and disease, and is the single largest environmental health risk. Heart disease and stroke are the most common reasons for premature death attributable to air pollution, followed by lung diseases and lung cancer. This report aims at investigation and comparative analysis of air pollution and mortality related indicators in Bulgaria. Methods Descriptive study design with content analysis is applied on data from accessible national and international databases and publications - Bulgarian National Statistical Institute and The European Environment Agency. To evaluate the health burden attributable to air pollution were used the population-weighted concentration and the estimated number of attributable premature deaths, and the Years of life lost (YLL) per 100 000 inhabitants in 2016. The Ambient Air Quality Directive defines the PM2.5 Average Exposure Indicator which reflects population exposure to PM2.5 and shows the average concentration at urban areas, calculated as a 3-year average. Results In 2015, the level of PM2.5 had to be below 20 µg/m3 in any country. In 2017, concentrations were still above that level in three countries - Slovakia 22, Poland and Bulgaria 24. The largest health impacts in terms of premature deaths and YLL, are observed in central and eastern Europe where the highest concentrations are also observed - Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria, Albania and North Macedonia. The premature deaths attributable to PM2.5 exposure in Bulgaria are 13 100, to NO2 - 1 100 and to O3 - 280. The YLL attributable to PM2.5, NO2 and O3 exposure are respectively 1858, 151, 42. All these levels are very high in comparison with other European countries. Conclusions Recognition of the full health and economic cost of air pollution and the benefits of pollution reduction should spur increased use of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and clean-fuel vehicles. This is a necessary investment for Bulgaria's future. Key messages Responsibility for, and tools to tackle, many environmental determinants of health lie outside the direct control of individuals or the health sector alone. Wider societal, intersectoral and population-based public health approach is needed.

Increasing ambient surface ozone levels over the UK accompanied by fewer extreme events

Abstract We report a statistical analysis of surface ozone (O3) measurements over the UK, 1999–2019. Data are from the Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) that forms the basis of checking nationwide compliance with ambient air quality directives. We determine the mean O3 trend across all AURN sites to be 0.41 ± 0.07 μg m−3yr−1, composed of larger trends in suburban and urban environments (0.36 ± 0.11 μg m−3yr−1–0.75 ± 0.16 μg m−3yr−1) than in the rural environment (0.16 ± 0.07 μg m−3yr−1); consequently the gap between urban and rural surface O3 across the UK has steadily declined from 20 μg m−3 to 12 μg m−3 until 2012 when it has since stalled. These trends in urban surface O3 are coincident with and likely caused by a pronounced decline in surface concentrations of NO2 (proxy for NOx), which we link to reduced emissions from the transport sector. Using a gamma probability distribution to describe changes in surface O3, we find an increase in the probability of high mean O3 and an associated decrease in the probability of extreme (elevated) O3 events. We find no discernible trend in the number of days per year that exceed the 8-h mean O3 value of 100 μg m−3 set by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) or a similar metric of 120 μg m−3 set by the EU. These exceedances, typically occurring during summer months across the network, range from 499 exceedances in 2010 to in excess of 2300 exceedances in 2003 and 2006. We find that 50% of these exceedances occur at temperatures greater than 18∘C (21∘C) in rural (urban) environments. With 50% (95%) of the 66 million UK inhabitants living and working within 12 km (50 km) of an AURN site, our analysis is relevant to a large fraction of the UK population. Consequently, we may need to re-prioritize epidemiological studies to understand the impact of chronic exposure to elevated mean O3 concentrations on human health.

Results from the European Union MAPEC_LIFE cohort study on air pollution and chromosomal damage in children: are public health policies sufficiently protective?

BackgroundChildren are at high risk of suffering health consequences of air pollution and childhood exposure can increase the risk of developing chronic diseases in adulthood. This study, part of the MAPEC_LIFE project (LIFE12 ENV/IT/000614), aimed to investigate the associations between exposure to urban air pollutants and micronucleus (MN) frequency, as a biomarker of chromosomal damage, in buccal cells of children for supporting implementation and updating of environmental policy and legislation.MethodsThis prospective epidemiological cohort study was carried out on 6- to 8-year-old children living in five Italian towns with different levels and features of air pollution. Exfoliated buccal cells of the children were sampled twice, in winter and spring, obtaining 2139 biological samples for genotoxicological investigation. Micronucleus (MN) frequency was investigated in buccal cells of children and its association with air pollution exposure was assessed applying multiple Poisson regression mixed models, including socio-demographic and lifestyle factors as confounders. We also dichotomize air pollutants’ concentration according to the EU Ambient Air Quality Directives and WHO Air Quality Guidelines in all Poisson regression models to assess their risk predictive capacity.ResultsPositive and statistically significant associations were found between MN frequency and PM10, PM2.5, benzene, SO2 and ozone. The increment of the risk of having MN in buccal cells for each μg/m3 increase of pollutant concentration was maximum for benzene (18.9%, 95% CIs 2.2–38.4%) and modest for the other pollutants (between 0.2 and 1.4%). An increased risk (between 17.9% and 59.8%) was found also for exposure to PM10, benzene and benzo(a)pyrene levels higher than the threshold limits.ConclusionsSome air pollutants are able to induce chromosomal damage in buccal cells of children even at concentrations below present EU/WHO limits. This type of biological effects may be indicative of the environmental pressure which populations are exposed to in urban areas.

Air Quality Characterization at Three Industrial Areas in Southern Italy

Outdoor air pollution is responsible for more than 4 million premature deaths worldwide and its contribution is particularly severe in industrial contaminated sites, where epidemiological studies highlight often mortality rate larger than the national average. In the framework of the CISAS project, this study investigates spatial and temporal variability of air pollution across three industrial contaminated sites in southern Italy, classified as “High Risk Area of Environmental Crisis”: Crotone, Milazzo and Priolo. The environmental analysis employed three investigation approaches: - meteorological characterization of the sites with analyses of local air mass circulation; - statistical evaluation of the continuous measurements of gaseous pollutants and PM concentration; - determination of mass concentration and detailed speciation of the chemical components of atmospheric particulate matter during intensive field campaigns. Continuous trace gases and aerosol measurements (including NOx, SO2, O3, NMHC, PM10 and PM2.5) over the period 2016-2018 were analysed, and specific intensive field experiments (2016-2017), representative of winter and summer conditions, were carried out in order to determine PM10 and PM2.5 chemical composition. The analyses of PM components (ions, elemental composition, trace organic pollutants, organic carbon, and elemental carbon) show concentrations typical of rural and urban areas. The results concerning gaseous pollutants and PM concentration showed a general compliance of the concentrations of some regulated species with the limits set by the EU Ambient Air Quality (AAQ) Directive. However, in particular in the industrial areas of Milazzo and Priolo, the analysis here reported highlights the need for a stringent regulation on NMHC ambient concentration and composition, further investigation of fine particle composition and atmospheric processing, and a deeper understanding of the role of anthropogenic emissions on ozone formation, also considering the World Health Organization (WHO) limits.

Monitoring air pollution effects on children for supporting public health policies (MAPEC_LIFE study)

Abstract Background Children are at high risk of suffering health consequences of air pollution and childhood exposure can increase the risk of developing chronic diseases in adulthood. The MAPEC_LIFE project, funded by EU Life+ Programme (LIFE12 ENV/IT/000614), aimed to evaluate the association between air pollution exposure and biomarkers of early effect in children and to propose guidance for implementing environmental policies. Methods The study was carried out on 6-8-year-old children. Micronucleus (MN) frequency was investigated in buccal cells of children and its association with air pollution exposure was assessed applying multiple Poisson regression mixed models, including socio-demographic and lifestyle factors as confounders. We also dichotomize air pollutants concentration according to the EU Ambient Air Quality Directives and WHO Air Quality Guidelines in all Poisson regression models to assess their risk predictive capacity. Results The project involved 1149 children providing buccal cells in winter and spring. 2139 biological samples were included in the analysis (1093 collected in winter, 1046 in spring). The analysis of the association between MN frequency and air quality parameters found positive associations for PM10, PM2.5, benzene, SO2 and ozone. Considering EU Directives, an association was found between MN frequency and PM10 exposure higher than the annual limit value, with an increase of the risk of 17.9% (95%CIs: 0.6-38.1%). Considering WHO Guidelines, the exposures to levels of PM10, benzene and BaP higher than the annual limits were associated with MN frequency, with a risk increase of 22.5%, 27.8% and 59.8% (95%CIs: 3.9-44.3%, 3.8-57.3%, 21.0-111.1%), respectively. Conclusions The analyses conducted showed an association between MN frequency in buccal cells of children and levels of some air pollutants, even at concentration below EU and WHO thresholds, which hence seemed to be insufficient for protecting children from this type of damage. Key messages Air pollution exposure induced chromosomal damage in buccal cells of children, even at concentration below the law limits. Early biological damage detected might be predictive of the occurrence of future harmful effects in humans, at a population level.