Poor air quality poses a major environmental health risk worldwide, and is the leading environmental cause of premature deaths in the European Union. Reducing air pollution is therefore a high priority for EU Member States, with key policy drivers including the revised Ambient Air Quality Directive.

Systematic recording of air pollutants and their origins can increase air quality awareness in local areas and help authorities make informed decisions on environmental protection measures. However, despite the potential advantages for environmental management – and while numerous maps and portals exist to visualise air pollution in Europe – there is currently no globally standardised design for such tools. Existing tools differ in detail, content, analytical capability, scope, and functionality, and there remains no single resource for residents seeking standardised, consistent information about air quality in their locale. 

A team from Poland has addressed this issue by designing an ‘emission and air quality cadastre’ (EMAC) to support clean air policy, drawing on an approach generally seen in land and property management. To design their universal, spatially organised system, they assessed existing map portals and their functionality and carried out a form of business analysis called PESTEL, which considered the political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, ecological and legal factors with which the EMAC operates. Some examples of these factors included funding for scientific research on air quality (economic), the share of renewable energy in a country’s energy balance (ecological), and awareness of the impact of air quality on health and life expectancy (socio-cultural).

The researchers defined the factors likely to be influential via literature review, personal experience, and a brainstorming session. They used in-depth interviews with scientists and public sector workers with an air quality remit to determine each factor’s probability of occurrence and likelihood of impacting the EMAC, and the strength and direction of this impact. Furthermore, they analysed available sources of air quality data and assessed the data quality and accessibility of the data. They explored The World Air Quality Index Sitemap and country-scale portals such as BC Air Quality British Columbia Canada and the Pollution Map by the GIOŚ Poland. In total, they looked at 12 portals covering North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. 

Through interviews and questionnaires with people working in public administration, the researchers also gained insights from experts on air quality monitoring and protection. For example, they asked about trends in restrictions on driving petrol vehicles and protection of green spaces in cities. They found that experts considered legal factors such as air quality monitoring and regulation to be most influential on the efficacy of the cadastre, as they determine whether the cadastre can gather reliable, standardised data. Factors in the political sphere, such as international standardisation in monitoring, assessment, and prevention of air pollution, shape the cooperation necessary to maintain the EMAC. The development of air pollution sensors was identified as a significant technological factor, while societal willingness to crowdsource data was a key socio-cultural factor.

The analysis of air quality data portals revealed differences in a) the distribution of monitoring stations, b) the scope of information provided on spatial scales (global, regional, local), and c) additional functionality beyond the provision of mapped and downloadable data, including alerts by text message or sound at times of high local pollution, or actions to reduce pollution. Overall, only four of the 12 map portals met the threshold established by the team for consideration in the EMAC. With the best quality portals scattered and inconsistent, the value of the cadastre could be in creating a unified and policy-linked approach extending the best practices from the selected portals globally. 

In practice, the effective mapping of current and future emissions using tools such as that developed by the team could play a role in directly advising the public. It could also form the basis for local and regional policy decisions. For example, around the introduction of low-emission zones, which are a notable policy choice by EU Member States as a means of meeting requirements of air quality regulations.

While the researchers noted their tool’s potential to help meet the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, they highlighted that further work would be needed to turn the proposed EMAC into something that could be widely used and applied. The work is not yet mature enough to offer concrete policy conclusions but sets a solid benchmark.

They noted that, when constructing the EMAC, care must be taken to adapt types of data and their visualisation. If simply looking to include the most data possible, there is a risk of the same data existing in multiple places (data redundancy), making interpretation difficult. They pointed out that a drive to include as much data as possible runs the risk of complicating ‘big data’ issues and ultimately the EMAC’s management. There are also challenges in visually interpretating data in a way that is useful to everyone using it. Data should also be visualised in ways that are familiar and useful to decision-makers, and case studies and further technical refinements used to create a truly useful tool for policymakers.

Source:

Szopińska, K., Cienciała, A., Bieda, A. and Kazak, J., (2025) How to design the Emission and Air Quality Cadastre? A conceptual scheme supporting clean air policy. Journal of Cleaner Production, 498(14513), p.6. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.145136

To cite this article/service:

“Science for Environment Policy”: European Commission DG Environment News Alert Service, edited by the Science Communication Unit, The University of the West of England, Bristol.

Notes on content:

The contents and views included in Science for Environment Policy are based on independent, peer reviewed research and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Commission. Please note that this article is a summary of only one study. Other studies may come to other conclusions.