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Impact of selected policy measures on Europe's air quality
EEA Technical report No 8/2010

Released: 2011/01/05: See the report

Abstract
Industrial combustion and road transport are major sources of air pollutants that cause significant harm to human health and the natural environment. Together, they account for around 50–66 % of total emissions of particulate matter, acidifying pollutants and ozone-forming gases. The EU introduced the Euro emission standards for road vehicles and directives on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) and Large Combustion Plants (LCP) to reduce air pollutant emissions from these sources. But how effective have they been? This study aims to provide an answer, analysing how much these policies have reduced air pollutant emissions and improved Europe's air quality compared to a 'no-policy scenario'. It also explores how much better air quality could be if the policies were fully applied.

Prepared by: The European Environment Agency's European Topic Centre for Air and Climate Change (ETC/ACC). The authors of the report were Jeroen Kuenen, Mtinkheni Gondwe, Tinus Pulles (TNO, the Netherlands), Frank de Leeuw (PBL, the Netherlands) and Justin Goodwin (S-ESC, United Kingdom). Leonidas Ntziachristos (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece) provided annual vehicle fleet data for Europe (COPERT 4 website and TREMOVE road transport models).

EEA project manager: Martin Adams

Publish date: 2011/01/05

Published by: © EEA (European Environment Agency).

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