2023-12-27 15:29:34
The air quality in the country’s four major cities (Brussels, Charleroi, Antwerp and Ghent) has once more improved during the year 2023, a provisional report from the interregional environment unit reveals on Wednesday ( CELINE). There were also fewer fine particles in the air this year.
This reduction in nitrogen dioxide pollution can be explained in particular by the stricter emission standards now in force for passenger cars as well as the reduction in diesel engines in the Belgian automobile fleet. The introduction of low-emission zones in certain cities (such as Brussels, in particular) has also had the effect of removing the oldest and most polluting cars from the streets.
Finally, the particularly rainy spring and autumn this year also provided favorable weather conditions for good air quality, according to this CELINE report. Consequence: NO2 concentrations have never been so low in the last fifteen years. The European limit value of 40 µg/m³ as an annual average for nitrogen dioxide has thus not been exceeded anywhere in automatic measuring stations in 2023, even if we are still far from meeting the stricter values recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
As for fine particles present in the air, these are also decreasing. The European annual limit values for fine dust with a diameter of less than 10 micrometers (PM10) and those with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) have thus been respected at all measurement sites in Belgium, according to CELINE.
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