Health and environment impacts of air pollution exposure remain high across Europe
Just under 240,000 deaths per year in the European Union can be attributed to exposure to fine particulate matter, a key air pollutant, according to the latest European Environment Agency (EEA) air quality health impact assessment published today as the new EU rules enter into force. The latest data also confirm, yet again, that Europeans remain exposed to air pollutant concentrations considerably above recommended World Health Organization (WHO) levels. A separate assessment also found that nearly three quarters of Europe’s ecosystems are exposed to damaging levels of air pollution.
Despite the challenges in reducing our exposure to air pollutants, the data confirm a trend that the estimated impact on health caused by long-term exposure to three key air pollutants (fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ozone) is improving, according to the EEA briefing ‘Harm to human health from air pollution in Europe: burden of disease status 2024’.
Between 2005 and 2022, the number of deaths in the EU attributable to fine particulate matter or PM2.5 fell by 45%, remaining on track to achieve the 55% reduction target outlined in the EU zero pollution action plan for 2030.
It is good news for all citizens that we have stricter EU air quality rules in place as of today, but still too many people across Europe, especially those in cities are negatively affected by poor air quality resulting in illness and premature deaths, which are largely preventable through reducing the levels of these pollutants in the environment. Air pollution has wider negative impacts as well, damaging the health of our ecosystems, making it even more important to redouble our efforts to clean our air.
New EU air quality rules in place
The revised ambient air quality directive, which entered into force today, brings the EU air quality limits values closer to the WHO standards, supporting further reductions in the health impacts of air pollution over the coming years. Still, air pollution continues to be the top environmental health risk to Europeans (followed by other factors such as exposure to noise, chemicals and the increasing effects of climate-related heatwaves on health), causing chronic illness and attributable deaths, especially in cities and urban areas.
According to latest EEA estimates, at least 239,000 deaths in the EU in 2022 were attributable to exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution above the WHO recommended concentration of 5 µg/m3. 70,000 deaths are attributable to exposure to ozone (O3) pollution and 48,000 deaths to exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution.
These attributable deaths could have been avoided by meeting the WHO’s guideline values in 2022. Key information for each country is included in a separate annex to this press release, including information on national level health and ecosystem impacts.
In addition to premature deaths, the impacts from living with diseases related to air pollution are significant. It is vital that these impacts are considered when assessing the overall health burden of air pollution, as well as the benefits that would arise from cleaner air in Europe, the EEA briefing says.
Air pollution’s impact on nature
Air pollution also has a negative impact on our nature. A separate EEA briefing ‘Impacts of air pollution on ecosystems in Europe’, looks at how vegetation is exposed to key air pollutants and how this translates into crops yield and economic losses.
The EEA briefing found that nitrogen in the air, which is deposited on ecosystems, increases the nutrient loading (eutrophication) leading to changes in the ecosystem structure and function (changes in plant species that can grow in an area). Notably, 73% of ecosystems in the EU were above critical loads for eutrophication in 2022.
The zero pollution action plan includes the objective to reduce the area of ecosystems where nitrogen deposition exceeds critical loads by 25% by 2030 compared to the levels in 2005. This objective is currently unlikely to be met, as it fell by 13% between 2005 and 2022.
Also, about one third of Europe’s agricultural lands were exposed to ground-level ozone concentrations above the threshold value set for protection of vegetation under EU rules. This resulted in crop damage, reduced yields and estimated economic losses of at least €2 billion. Ozone damages forests and plants by reducing growth rates, lowering yields, and affecting biodiversity. In 2022, 62% of the total forest area in the 32 EEA member countries exceeded critical levels set to protect forests from ozone. Significant decreases in emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2) over recent decades have mostly addressed the problem of acidification.
Background
The EEA briefings: ‘Harm to human health from air pollution in Europe: burden of disease status 2024’ and the ‘Impacts of air pollution on ecosystems in Europe’, are part of the EEA’s air quality in Europe 2024 package.
The EEA has been estimating number of deaths attributable to exposure to air pollution since 2014. The EEA uses the recommendations for health impacts set out in the 2021 WHO air quality guidelines. As with previous years, the health impacts of different air pollutants should not be added together to avoid double counting due to some overlaps in data. This is the case for both mortality and illness.
In addition to these two briefings, updated factsheets on air pollution have also been published for each country. These factsheets provide a summary of key data related to air pollution emissions and air quality, including trends in pollution over time and the health impacts related to pollution impacts in each country.
The revised Air Quality Directive, Directive (EU) 2024/2881, enters into force today, 10 December 2024, following its adoption on 23 October 2024. The Directive introduces new air quality standards to be attained in 2030 that align closer with WHO recommendations and an obligation to monitor additional pollutants such as ultrafine particles, black carbon and ammonia.
Additional information on the revised directive can be found in the news item and the video by the European Commission.
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