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European Parliament Environment Committee votes to raise EU PM2.5 reduction targets
23rd June 2006
The European Parliament’s Environment Committee voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday in favour of more ambitious targets on air quality in Europe. The committee adopted two draft reports on proposals by the European Commission, one on revised Community legislation on ambient air quality, the other on on air pollution strategy. The co-decision report by Holger Krahmer (ALDE, DE) on the directive on the quality of ambient air, adopted by 39 votes to 11, calls for more ambitious targets than those set out by the Commission for cutting maximum concentrations of pollutants, especially micro-particles or atmospheric dust known as PM2.5.
However, the report calls for more flexibility in achieving the targets, to allow Member States which have problems meeting the criteria more time to adjust.
The Environment Committee wants to reduce maximum concentration levels of the largest particles - known as PM10 - to 30µg/m3 on average per year from 2010. The Commission was proposing to keep the limit at 40µg/m3.
However, for fine particles (PM2.5), which do the most damage to human lungs, MEPs believe it is too soon to set limit values, given the current state of scientific knowledge. Instead they suggest initially setting a target figure, which is less binding and is lower than that proposed by the Commission (20µg/m3 from 2010 instead of 25µg/m3), then awaiting the revision of the directive scheduled for 2015 in order to set 20µg/m3 as the limit value.
The report also calls for more flexibility over allowing five-year extensions to the deadline in zones or agglomerations which fail to meet the criteria for PM2.5. And it demands flexibility over the goal of reducing the population's exposure to this type of pollution by 20% by 2020, by setting differing percentage reductions depending on concentration levels.
The own-initiative report by Dorette Corbey (PES, NL) on the Community thematic strategy for air pollution was adopted unanimously. It calls for more ambitious targets for reducing concentration levels of nitrogen oxides (Nox), volatile organic compounds and fine particles (PM2.5).
MEPs also want to see more focus on the sources of pollution, including agriculture and shipping. As with the directive, the report calls for stricter limit values while envisaging longer deadlines for Member States which have taken all possible steps but still have difficulty meeting the limits.
The goal of the thematic strategy unveiled by the Commission in September 2005 is to reduce by around 40% by 2020 - compared to 2000 - the number of premature deaths caused by ailments linked to air pollution. This is the first time a proposal has been made that concentrations of PM 2.5 should be reduced. Air pollution - chiefly fine particles and tropospheric ozone - is estimated to cause the equivalent of 360 000 premature deaths in the EU every year.
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