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Mental, behavioural, and neurodevelopmental disorders arise from complex genetic, social, psychological, lifestyle, and environmental interactions. This umbrella+ review evaluates evidence on mental health impacts of ambient air pollution, environmental chemicals, and transportation noise, prioritizing systematic reviews and recent high-quality European studies. Long-term air pollution is associated with higher incidence of depression, while short-term peaks exacerbate depressive and psychotic symptoms and increase suicide risk. Chemicals such as second-hand smoke, lead, bisphenol A, and pesticides show consistent links to depression, schizophrenia, and anxiety, particularly with prenatal or childhood exposure. Emerging evidence indicates transportation noise increases risks of depression, anxiety, and childhood ADHD, mainly through stress and sleep disruption. These environmental exposures likely make meaningful population-level contributions to Europe’s mental health burden, especially during sensitive early developmental periods. Prevention should reduce environmental pollution while leveraging the restorative potential of natural environments, with future research addressing long-term, cumulative effects and socioeconomic vulnerability.

Ground-level ozone (O₃) is a secondary photochemical pollutant formed through complex reactions involving its precursors. It is regarded as the most phytotoxic common air pollutant, impairing crop productivity and forest vitality. The European Directives 2008/50/EC and its revision 2024/2881/EC apply the AOT40 index to assess O₃ risk to vegetation. However, scientific consensus indicates that stomatal O₃ uptake better reflects vegetation injury than ambient O₃ exposure. This paper examines the potential integration of the Phytotoxic Ozone Dose (PODY) metric for (semi-)natural vegetation under ETC HE, following its previous implementation for crops and forest trees. POD maps were developed for (semi-)natural vegetation represented by temperate perennial grasslands in the Boreal, Atlantic, Continental, Steppic, and Pannonian regions, and for annual pastures in the Mediterranean. Calculations were performed using routines originally developed by INERIS and modified by CHMI, following the methodology of the Manual on Methodologies and Criteria for Modelling and Mapping Critical Loads and Levels and Air Pollution Effects, Risks, and Trends under the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP, 2024). The routine production of POD1 maps for (semi-)natural vegetation is technically achievable.