New Directive on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe
Today, 10 December 2024, a decisive step towards the European Union’s (EU) ambitious goal of achieving zero pollution by 2050 is taken: Directive 2024/2881/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2024 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe enters into force.
Every year, around 300’000 premature deaths occur in Europe due to air pollution. To address this serious situation, the European Commission has proposed to revise, consolidate and merge the two existing air quality directives into one, aligning the standards with the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations to be achieved by 2030, subject to possible extensions due to specific conditions.
The timeline
The proposal for the new Air Quality Directive was published by the European Commission on 26 October 2022. Subsequently, on 14 October 2024, the European Council formally adopted the Directive setting updated air quality standards in the European Union. On 20 November 2024, the text of the Directive was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Today, 10 December 2024, 20 days after publication, it officially entered into force. From this date, each Member State is obliged to adopt laws, regulations and administrative provisions to comply with it within a period of two years.
The aims and provisions of the new Directive
The Directive establishes ambient air quality objectives, defining common methods and criteria for its assessment, monitoring current ambient air quality, long-term trends and the effects of adopted measures. The Directive also promotes the comparability and accessibility of information on air quality in the European Union. The standards will be periodically reviewed, by 2030 and every 5 years thereafter, in order to be constantly updated on the basis of new scientific evidence and social and technological changes.
Areas characterised by meteorologically and orographically disadvantaged contexts where, despite the implementation of reduction measures, problems of compliance with the limits set by the Directive persist, are protected by extensions until 2040. For further details on extensions, see Article 18 of the Directive.
The revision imposes sanctions on Member States in the event of non-compliance with the limits and measures established and guarantees the right to receive compensation and to be represented by non-governmental organisations to persons whose health has been affected by pollution, in the event of violation of European standards (Article 28 – Compensation for damage to human health).
The new legislation also supports local authorities by strengthening the provisions on monitoring, air quality modelling and improving related plans. In fact, Member States must appoint competent authorities and entities responsible for the assessment of ambient air quality, the accuracy of the monitoring network and the sharing of data, as well as for promoting the accuracy of modelling applications and the analysis of assessment methods. In addition, they have to coordinate quality assurance programmes on a European scale, as stipulated in Article 11 and its annexes.
The updates introduced by the new directive lead to a reduction in the regulatory limits for the protection of human health, to be met by 2030. The following table shows the main regulatory standards set by the new Directive for the protection of human health, compared with the standards set by the two repealed Directives 2008/50/EC and 2004/107/EC (changes are highlighted in red).
TerrAria is committed to staying up-to-date on the air quality issue that is central to the company, ranging from environmental impact studies to support in the preparation of air quality plans, ensuring services that are always in line with evolving regulations.
