2023-09-13 16:18:00
MEPs called on Wednesday to strengthen air quality standards in the EU by aligning them by 2035 with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). This is with a view to achieving the ‘zero pollution’ objective in 2050.
As part of the Green Deal, the adopted text (363 votes for, 226 once morest, 43 abstentions) must still be negotiated with member states, at a time when tensions over environmental regulations are intensifying.
It establishes more strict and binding limit values for several pollutants – fine particles, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, etc. – for 2035, in order to ‘guarantee air quality that is not harmful to human health, ecosystems and biodiversity’.
The lower standards initially proposed by the Commission should constitute ‘an intermediate objective to be achieved as soon as possible, no later than 2030’.
Some 300,000 premature deaths
Some 300,000 premature deaths are attributable each year to air pollution in the EU, a ‘time-delayed pandemic leading to cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases’, according to Social Democratic MEP Javi López, rapporteur of the text.
The text provides for an increase in air quality measurement points – particularly in urban areas, with at least one monitoring ‘supersite’ for two million inhabitants, compared to one for ten million in the Commission’s proposal. – and harmonization of indices across the EU.
After negotiations
All member states would be required to develop detailed roadmaps. The project provides for a reinforced right to compensation, particularly within the framework of collective actions, for citizens whose health has been affected by violations of air quality standards.
A sign of the strong political tensions around the Green Deal legislation, the text on air quality was the subject of bitter negotiations and amendment battles, with the EPP (right) pleading for less restrictive standards in order to not to undermine the economy.
‘The solution should be to create incentives to reduce polluting emissions, rather than bans and fines. We must realize that for many states, these standards represent an incredibly high objective, argued Norbert Lins (PPE).
Being able to demand accountability
In order to ensure the passage of the text, Renew (liberals) and S&D (social democrats) accepted a compromise pushing back to 2035, once morest 2030 in the position adopted in the parliamentary committee, alignment with the WHO recommendations.
While she regrets this postponement, Emma Bud, of the environmental NGO ClientEarth, welcomes the proposed rules for access to justice which will make it possible to ‘hold governments to account’ and assert ‘an unprecedented new right to compensation’ when exposed to harmful levels of pollution.
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