Strict compliance with the law could reduce the number of premature deaths by around 55% by 2030. A prospect that remains “distant”, deplores Brussels.
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While the member states of the European Union (EU) scrupulously respected the legislation on air pollution, the number of premature deaths linked to exposure to fine particles and nitrogen dioxide could be reduced by around 55% by 2030 (compared to 2005, the base year of the so-called PEN directive on national emission ceilings). This is the main conclusion of the “air quality outlook report” published on Friday 8 January by the European Commission. “This report sends a clear message. Further reduction of air pollution would save more lives (…) It is essential that all member states step up their efforts,” comments Virginijus Sinkevicius, the environment commissioner. /
Air pollution, recalls the European legislator, “remains the first environmental risk factor for health in the EU, a cause of chronic and serious diseases such as asthma, cardiovascular problems and lung cancer “. In September 2020, the European Environment Agency estimated that exposure to fine particles PM2.5 (less than 2.5 micrometers) is responsible for around 400,000 premature deaths each year. Their number could drop by 28% between 2020 and 2030, the report notes.
With fewer workdays lost, and hospitalizations and mortality avoided, investing more in reducing air pollution would have also positive effects on the economy. The commission estimates between € 7 billion and € 21 billion in additional net benefits per year for the EU from 2030. Combined with a climate policy also respectful of its objectives (achieving carbon neutrality by 2050), notably by taking into account account for “the productivity gains obtained thanks to an improvement in air quality”, Brussels notes that “the GDP would even increase by almost 1.3% by 2050”.
Le black dot of ammonia
But this beautiful optimism has one condition: that “all the policies already adopted by the member states” be “fully implemented”, just like the additional measures announced by the states to promote clean means of transport or heating that no longer rely on fossil fuels. However, the report notes, “this prospect remains distant”: most Member States still have to make a “significant effort” to fulfill their obligations for the period 2020-2029 under the PEN directive. Thus France, like fourteen other countries, will have to reduce its emissions of nitrogen oxides by more than 30% by 2030. They are emitted mainly by road traffic and in particular diesel vehicles. Repeated exceedances of the limit values for nitrogen dioxide in a dozen French agglomerations have earned France a judgment in the EU Court of Justice.
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