The State of Air Pollution in Europe

The European Environment - State and Outlook 2010 - Air Pollution (46 page pdf, European Environment Agency, 2010)

The report reviewed today is an overview of the progress (or lack of progress) being made or forecast in Europe to meet EU objectives. Clearly, the main challenge has to do with particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide and managing the main sources: hydro plants and transportation. One striking observation is that as electric vehicles are introduced to reduce urban emissions, rural areas may suffer as the sites of expanded electric generating utilities.



Key Quotes:

“only 14 European countries expect to comply with all four pollutant-specific emission ceilings set under EU and international legislation for 2010.. The upper limit for nitrogen oxides (NOX) is the most challenging — 12 countries expect to exceed it, some by as much as 50 %”

“An estimated 5 million years of lost life per year are due to fine particles (PM2.5) alone”

“The energy sector remains a large source of air pollution, accounting for around 70 % of Europe's sulphur oxides (SOX) emissions and 21 % of NOX output despite significant reductions since 1990. Road transport is another important source of pollution”

“Over the past decade, 20–50 % of the urban population was exposed to PM10 concentrations in excess of the EU daily limit values set for the protection of human health..While the annual average limit value of 40 μg/m3 is regularly exceeded at several urban background and traffic stations, there are hardly any exceedances at rural background locations”

“PM2.5 pollution in EEA-32 countries may be associated with approximately 500 000 premature deaths in 2005. This corresponds to about 5 million years of life lost “

“the largest proportional decreases are projected for emissions of NOX and SO2 — a reduction of some 45 % by 2020 in the absence of additional measures “

“future large scale uptake of electric vehicles could lead to significant benefits arising from the displacement of harmful air pollutants from urban to rural areas (where fossil-fuelled power stations are typically situated) where population exposure is lower.”

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