Europe air quality improves but falls short of 2030 targets, EEA report warns
Summary
Air quality in Europe is getting better but still does not meet the European Union’s goals for 2030, the European Environment Agency (EEA) reported. Pollution levels remain too high at about 20% of monitoring sites, especially for certain harmful particles and ground-level ozone, which is linked to thousands of early deaths.Key Facts
- The EEA report covers 39 European countries, including the 27 EU members plus others like Switzerland, Norway, and Turkey.
- Most areas meet current EU limits for some pollutants like fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
- About 20% of monitoring sites still have pollution levels above EU standards, mainly for larger particles (PM10), ground-level ozone (O3), and benzo(a)pyrene (BaP).
- EU member countries must take further steps to reach the 2030 air quality targets set in 2024.
- The current EU targets are less strict than the World Health Organization’s 2021 recommendations.
- Ground-level ozone pollution has not decreased much and caused about 63,000 premature deaths in the EU in 2023.
- Climate change may make ozone pollution worse due to hotter weather that boosts its formation.
- The EEA called for stronger cooperation between European countries and internationally to reduce air pollution because it can travel long distances.
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