Air quality in Europe is improving but more effort is needed to reach the European Union’s 2030 targets, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said in its annual report on Thursday.<\/p>\n
“EU standards were mostly met in most regions across Europe for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and for nitrogen dioxide (NO2),” the EEA said in a statement.<\/p>\n
However, in up to 20 percent of monitoring stations, “air pollution is still above current EU air quality standards, especially for smaller particulate matter with a diameter of 10 microns (\u00b5m) or less (PM10), ground level ozone (O3) and benzo(a)pyrene (BaP),” it said.<\/p>\n
The EEA report covers 39 European countries, comprising the 27 EU member states and 12 countries associated to the agency, including Switzerland, Norway and Turkey.<\/p>\n
According to the EEA, EU member states will have to implement their roadmaps if they are to meet the 2030 air quality limits, set in 2024.<\/p>\n
“For most pollutants the distance to the 2030 target is significant and will likely require additional measures,” the report said, stressing the need for efforts on fine particulate matter.<\/p>\n
It can be politically difficult to gain acceptance for such efforts, as illustrated by France’s recent rollback of low-emission zones (LEZs) targeting polluting vehicles.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the EU’s 2030 targets still fall well short of the World Health Organization’s recommendations, updated in 2021.<\/p>\n
The European agency also emphasised the lack of significant progress on ground-level ozone levels, which “have not decreased significantly”, and which caused 63,000 premature deaths in the EU in 2023.<\/p>\n
“Climate change is expected to worsen ozone pollution in Europe because of increased frequency and intensity of heat-related meteorological conditions that enhance ozone formation,” the EEA said.<\/p>\n
It warned that action at local and national levels “may not be sufficient”, since ozone and its precursors can travel over long distances.<\/p>\n
“Effective mitigation also depends on stronger European and international cooperation to tackle transboundary air pollution,” the agency said.<\/p>\n
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