5 facts about air pollution in Europe
Experts say not enough attention is given to the state of air in the EU. The European Court of Auditors has published a report highlighting few alarming facts about the current situation. Results were summarized in an article appeared on the META, the news channel of the European Environmental Bureau.
1st fact: air evaluation systems do not have the same criteria in different countries.
Quality indices differ from a country to another, so the same level of pollution can be considered very bad in one country and acceptable in another country in Europe.
2nd fact: some monitoring stations are closing down.
In a few cities where bad air quality has been registered in the past, now simply has no control anymore as monitoring stations stopped their activity.
3rd fact: only 4 out of 28 countries respected limits for NO2, SO2 and PM in 2016.
The auditors indicated the need to push infringement procedures against the countries who are not compliant with EU law. Enforcement of sanctions is often lengthy and it does not lead to significant change.
4th fact: more focus is needed on air pollution sources.
Sources of air pollution are varied but the report highlighted that the most pollutant plants, for examples, benefit from transitional plans that grant them additional pollution allowances.
5th fact: current air pollution limits are 15-20 years old and they need to be adapted to the latest recommendations from the World Health Organisation.
Suggestions from the report are focusing on ensuring the enforcement of existing regulations, harmonizing air quality limit values and monitoring station location criteria from a country to another.
This post is also available in: Italian
