Improving Europe’s air quality — measures reported by countries

Measures to improve air quality

The EU Air Quality Directive requires Member States to implement air quality management plans and measures in areas where air quality standards are exceeded. These plans aim to reduce concentrations of air pollutants to below the legislative limit and target values specified in the Directive in the shortest possible time. Member States also have to report these management plans and measures to the European Commission through the European Environment Agency (EEA).

A recent analysis commissioned by the EEA illustrates the different types of measures and plans to improve air quality that were officially reported by the EU Member States and Norway in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Most of these measures address particulate matter (especially PM₁₀) and NO₂, in line with the most commonly exceeded air quality standards.

Linking exceedances of air quality standards to sources

In their official reports, countries provided reasons for not achieving standards in just over half (56 %) of the cases where they reported exceedances of the PM₁₀ limit value that resulted in implementing a management plan.

A general ‘other reasons’ explanation was the reason most frequently reported for exceedances (41 % of instances where a reason was given). This may indicate that a combination of sources contribute to poor air quality in such areas, including road traffic, domestic heating sources and contributions from regional background air pollution to (sub-)urban PM levels. ‘Heavily trafficked urban centre’ (24 %) and ‘proximity to a major road’ (21 %) were reported as the second and third most important causes.

Countries provided reasons for exceeding the annual NO₂ limit value in 90 % of cases. ‘Proximity to a major road’ (56 %) and ‘heavily trafficked urban centre’ (37 %) were the most common causes for not achieving standards. This also reflects the fact that most NO₂ exceedances are measured at traffic stations (Air quality in Europe — 2017 report). The exceedances occurred in urban and suburban areas.

There are also a number of exceedances of the air quality target value for ground-level ozone (O₃). Ozone forms over large areas of Europe through the reaction of nitrogen dioxides and volatile organic compounds in the presence of sunlight. This often happens far away from the emission sources. As a result, mitigation may need transboundary measures involving several municipalities, regions or even countries.

As is also the case for secondary PM, measures have to abate precursor pollutant emissions. In addition, under the Air Quality Directive the ozone standard is a target value that Member States should achieve where possibleand not a legally binding limit value. This is probably the main reason why fewer measures triggered by ozone exceedances are reported than those for PM₁₀ and NO₂ pollution.

Sectors targeted by air quality measures

In line with the reasons for exceedances, 46 % of the total number of PM₁₀ measures reported target road transport, followed by the commercial and residential combustion sector (20 %) and industry (17 %).

For NO₂, more than 60 % of the measures reported mainly target the road transport sector. Industry (13 %) and the commercial and residential combustion sector (11 %) are the second and third most targeted sectors (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Sectors addressed by the reported measures for PM₁₀ and NO₂

A more detailed assessment of the classification of the implemented measures is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Classification of measures designed to reduce PM₁₀ and NO₂ emissions

Note: IPPC, Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (industry) measures

Most measures implemented by Member States address traffic sources, especially for NO₂. The most commonly reported measures for this sector include:

• shift in transport mode (including the expansion of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure);
• land use planning to ensure sustainable transport facilities;
• improving public transport.

Also in connection with traffic-related sources of air pollution, most of the measures reported on public procurement relate to the purchase of new low-emission vehicles by local and/or government authorities.

More than a quarter of all PM₁₀ measures and around 10 % of the NO₂ measures target combustion-related sources. In the commercial and residential combustion sector, the main measures reported are the transition to low-emission fuels and public information. For industry, enabling transition to low-emission fuels is also one of the main measures, followed by retrofitting (emission control) pollution prevention equipment in industrial facilities and public procurement.

Measures focusing on public information also have an important share of the total (around 10 %) for both pollutants. These non-regulatory measures typically aim to give the public targeted information about individual actions that they can take to reduce air pollution.

Governance at different levels is important

Effective governance to improve air quality needs coordinated action across different scales of governance.

According to the reports from Member States, local government is responsible for implementing the majority of the abatement measures reported for both PM₁₀ and NO₂. National government is more often responsible for PM₁₀ measures than for NO₂ measures. Regional government is the next most responsible for implementing NO₂ mitigation measures.

Long-term measures account for most of the reported provisions for both NO₂ (65 %) and PM₁₀ (73 %), followed by medium-term measures. Almost all of the measures reported to the EEA are still in the planning or implementation phases, but most will be implemented within a year or less.