ETC HE Reports

This report presents summarised information on the status of air quality in Europe in 2020, based on validated air quality monitoring data officially reported by the member and cooperating countries of the EEA. It aims at informing on the status of ambient air quality in Europe in 2020 and on the progress towards meeting the European air quality standards for the protection of health in the Ambient Air Quality Directives and the new World Health Organization air quality guidelines. The report also compares the air quality status in 2020 with the previous three years.

This report presents summarized information on the status of air quality in Europe in 2021, based on Up-To-Date data (i.e. prior to final quality control) and validated air quality monitoring data reported by the member and cooperating countries of the EEA. It aims at giving more timely and preliminary information on the status of ambient air quality in Europe in 2021 for five key air pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, O3, NO2 and SO2). The report also gives a preliminary assessment of the progress towards meeting the European air quality standards for the protection of health and the new World Health Organization air quality guidelines, and compares the air quality status in 2021 with the previous three years.

This report provides outlooks to 2030 on population exposed to road, rail and aircraft noise as well as on health impacts. The outlooks comprise two scenarios, one that is conservative (i.e. the minimum implementation of existing and forthcoming regulations) and one optimistic scenario which includes a more extensive set of measures. The assessment is done in order to determine if the EU Action Plan 'Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil' with the commitment to reduce by 2030 the share of people chronically disturbed by noise from transport by 30 % compared to 2017, could be achieved considering the outlooks calculated.

This report estimates the health risk related to air pollution in 2020 based on the latest Air Quality Guidelines published by the World Health Organization. The estimates consider the number of premature deaths and years of life lost related to exposure to fine particulate matter, ozone and nitrogen dioxide across Europe. A sensitivity analysis to the changes in concentration-response functions and counterfactual concentrations is performed to understand the impact of the new Air Quality Guidelines on the mortality outcome estimates. The sensitivity analysis also includes the concentration response functions discussed in the ELAPSE study, a review on the latest European epidemiological studies.

This report provides an assessment of the impact of the ambient air pollutants PM2.5, NO2 and O3 on population health in Europe. It contains estimates of the morbidity related environmental burden of disease for ten risk-outcome pairs for Europe in 2019.

This scoping study outlines various options for methodologies that can underpin indicator(s) on the risk of (single/mixtures of) chemicals on various types of ecosystems, habitats and species. The aim of the indicator is to provide a sufficient and indicative level of information to contribute to risk governance. It can inform governmental institutions, non-governmental organizations and the general public on to what extent terrestrial ecosystems, habitats, or species, are put at risk by the occurrence of chemicals in the environment, as a consequence of human activities (e.g., farming). The report highlights the data required for the development of such an indicator and their availability through a review of existing databases. A case study illustrates the applicability of the indicator and the need for further development.

This report aims to support the on-going revision of the Ambient Air Quality Directives by providing a series of recommendations on the reciprocal exchange of information and reporting of ambient air quality (e-reporting) following the Commission Implementing Decision (2011/850/EU). It builds on the experience and understanding from the EEA and technical experts at its European Topic Centre for Human Health and the Environment (ETC HE) working with implementing provisions for reporting (IPR) and identifies areas for further efficiency gains in e-reporting, in particular concerning the H-K dataflows.

This report presents European interim air quality maps for 2021, which are based on the non-validated up-to-date (UTD) measurement data and the CAMS Ensemble Forecast modelling results, together with other supplementary data. It contains maps of PM10 and NO2 annual averages and ozone indicator SOMO35.

This report relates to the ETC technical proposal WP 2.1 to assess impacts on health and well-being from exposure to air and water pollution, environmental noise, chemicals and a changing climate in Europe. In this report the results of an umbrella review related to the effects of indoor and outdoor air pollution on children and adolescents with a separate evaluation of intervention studies.

The agricultural sector, and in particular livestock, are the main emitters of ammonia and methane in Europe. While ammonia contributes to the formation of secondary particles, methane is a greenhouse gas, a precursor of ozone and can have an indirect effect on particle concentrations. This study develops methods and provides elements of analysis on ammonia and methane emissions due to livestock farming in Europe: the geographical distribution of these emissions, the main types of farms and activities they originate from, technical measures to mitigate them, their impacts on human health and the environment.

O3 is considered to be the most damaging common air pollutant for vegetation. The current indicator used to protect vegetation against negative impacts of O3 is the AOT40. Nevertheless, it is widely acknowledged that the impacts of O3 are more closely related to the instantaneous O3 flux or O3 dose absorbed through the stomata than to O3 exposure in the ambient air. For this reason, maps of POD1 (i.e. Phytotoxic Ozone Dose) for tree species of beech and spruce have been prepared using the methodology described in the Manual for modelling and mapping critical loads and levels of the Air Convention (CLRTAP). Subsequently, it can be concluded that the inclusion of POD for selected trees in routine mapping along with the other maps already produced is feasible.