Air quality in Europe: the EU Directive 2024
In October 2024, the final text of the new Air Quality Directive which will replace the previous Directive 2008/50/EC was approved by the European Parliament after a long 2-year review process. Once published in the EU Official Journal, member states will have 2 years to transpose it and it will come into force on 1 January 2030. The new Directive with binding air quality standards (such as limit values and target values) represents an important step in the direction of aligning the results of scientific research relating to the health effects due to exposure to air pollutants, helping to protect the health of the population. In fact, it is now clear that air pollution,
indoor e outdooris the main environmental health risk factor responsible for numerous carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health effects.
In 2021, the WHO published the “WHO global air quality guidelines: particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide” (AQG) updated on the basis of the numerous scientific works that have examined the relationships between population exposure to air pollution indoor e outdoorwith attention to the macropollutants most present in the air, and effects on health. The guide values indicated by the WHO in 2021, which are recommended for both indoor and outdoor air quality, identified lower concentration levels for health protection than those of the previous AQGs published in 2005, deviating significantly from the values established by European and Italian legislation. This aspect is present in the premise of the new European Directive where it is highlighted that «The updated WHO guidelines on air quality highlight new evidence regarding the effects of exposure to low levels of air pollution and formulate guide levels in air quality matters for particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide compared to previous guidelines”. In fact, in the new EU Directive, further indicators to protect health not previously foreseen are introduced, such as the daily limit for both PM2.5 and NO2, integrating the reference to compliance with the annual limit only.
These indications will have to stimulate the identification and adoption of structural, synergistic, integrated and coherent actions (such as mobility plans, best available techniques, energy efficiency, building renovation) in different sectors, from agricultural to industrial and civil, and at all levels (regional, national and European). This is in order to achieve alignment with the WHO 2021 guidelines in the coming years. The relevance of these interventions is even more pressing if we consider the impact of air pollution on emergencies caused by climate change.
It is good to remember that the Directive currently in force (2008/50-DLgs 155/2010) with its measures has had a significant weight in the constant and continuous process of reducing air pollution which has occurred in recent decades and is expected, on the basis of the impact analysis accompanying this new Directive, «additional net socio-economic benefits resulting from a further reduction in air pollution from the new Directive, while the expected health and environmental benefits in monetary terms significantly exceed the expected implementation costs».
The concentration levels contained in Annex I “Air quality standards” of the newly approved Directive are not yet completely aligned with the recent WHO guide values, but represent an important step towards achieving a high level of protection of human health, with the first step to be achieved on 1 January 2030 and to be completed in 2050.
In this process of adaptation to the new Directive it is particularly important to follow a common approach which provides for the adoption of the same air quality standards also for the environments indoor (such as offices, schools, banks, post offices, shopping centers, metro stations, etc.), due to the long time that the population spends in closed environments. It is worth remembering that WHO has always considered air together indoor e
outdoorand the AQG recommendations refer to both. Their application contributes to the reduction of exposure to indoor air pollution and outdoor and contributes to overcoming conditions of health inequalities. This approach would allow our country to overcome and fill the legislative delay on air quality indoor with protocols and procedures present in the reports of the ISS Indoor Pollution Study Group.
In these years that separate us from 2030, it will be necessary to start a process of reducing environmental levels indoor e outdoor of concentration of some pollutants by working on risk factors (mobility, biomass, energy performance of buildings) which in Italy, especially in some areas, still represent a critical issue.
