The European Parliament and European Council reached on Tuesday (20 February) a provisional political agreement on new air quality rules proposing stricter limits and target values.
The new rules would set stricter 2030 limits and target values, compared to current rules, for several pollutants including particulate matter (PM2.5, PM10), NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) and SO2 (sulphur dioxide).
For the two pollutants with the highest documented impact on human health, PM2.5 and NO2, the annual limit values are to be more than halved from 25 µg/m³ to 10 µg/m³ and from 40 µg/m³ to 20 µg/m³ respectively.
There would also be more air quality sampling points in cities. The air quality standards shall be reviewed by 31 December 2030 and at least every five years thereafter and more often if clear from new scientific findings, such as revised World Health Organisation (WHO) Air Quality Guidelines.
It would be possible for EU countries to request that the 2030 deadline to attain the air quality limit values be postponed by up to ten years, if specific conditions are met, including when the necessary reductions can only be achieved by replacing a considerable part of the existing domestic heating systems causing the pollution exceedances.
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Moreover, co-legislators agreed to make “currently-fragmented air quality indices” across the EU comparable, clear and publicly available, the European Parliament noted in a press release.
These indices would also provide information about symptoms associated with air pollution peaks and the associated health risks for each pollutant, including information tailored to vulnerable groups as requested by the European Parliament.
It was also agreed that affected citizens and environmental NGOs, should be granted access to justice to challenge the implementation of this directive in EU countries, and that citizens should be entitled to compensation when their health has been damaged due to the new national rules being violated.
“Today’s agreement is a major step in our ongoing efforts to ensure a cleaner and healthier future for all Europeans. Parliament has played a crucial role in revising the outdated EU air quality standards, some of which were 15 to 20 years old, focusing on improved air quality monitoring near major pollution sources, protecting sensitive and vulnerable populations more robustly, and ensuring local authorities have the support they need to enforce the new standards effectively,” said rapporteur MEP Javi López.
In addition to air quality plans, required for those EU countries exceeding limits, all member states would have to create air quality roadmaps by 31 December 2028 that set out short- and long-term measures to comply with the new 2030 limit values as proposed by Parliament.
The deal now has to be adopted by the European Parliament and European Council, after which the new law would be published in the EU Official Journal and enter into force 20 days later. EU countries would then have two years to apply the new rules.