The European Commission has put forward a raft of measures to tackle air pollution, which is linked to over 400,000 premature deaths in Europe each year and potentially costs society hundreds of billions of euros a year.
The clean air package will see new emission limits placed on
power plants and industry installations, and measures intended to
force member states to comply with existing rules on limiting
pollutants associated with asthma, cardiovascular disease and
cancer.
“I wholeheartedly welcome the adoption of the clean air
package, which sets Europe on the right track to achieve clean
air for all in the long term,” Health Commissioner Tonio
Borg said. “The new air policy will translate into Europeans
living healthier and longer lives: fewer children developing
asthma or other respiratory problems, fewer people suffering from
cancer, chronic respiratory diseases or cardiovascular diseases
and finally fewer people dying from what air pollution does to
people's health.”
According to the Commission, many EU member states are still
falling short of agreed EU air quality standards, which are less
stringent than the guidelines of the UN World Health Organization
which, incidentally, are also not being met.
"Air pollution is still an invisible killer and it prevents many
people from living a fully active life," Environment
Commissioner Janez Potocnik said in a statement.
A
study conducted by the European Environment Agency (EEA)
published in October found that 430,000 people’s life spans were
shortened due to unclean air. The study also found that
approximately 90 percent of Europeans living in cities were
breathing dangerous air.
Eastern European countries such as Bulgaria, Poland, and Slovakia
– where some Soviet-era heavy industry remains – were found to be
the most exposed to particularly hazardous pollutants stemming
from coal and wood burning.
Perhaps even more alarming, a Lancet study released last
week found
that even when EU member states comply with agreed upon quality
guidelines, the risk of death from industrial activities remained
elevated.
If the new Clean Air Program is adopted, European policy makers
believe 58,000 premature deaths will be prevented each year by
2030. The Commission puts the annual direct societal costs from
air pollution, including damage to crops and buildings, at around
23 billion euro.
The total external health-related costs to society from air
pollution are estimated to be exponentially higher – ranging
anywhere from 330 billion to 940 billion euro per year.
The policymakers say the health benefits alone from the new
measures would save Europe between 40 billion to 140 billion euro
in external costs and provide 3 billion euro “due to higher
productivity of the workforce, lower healthcare costs, higher
crop yields and less damage to buildings.”
They also say the bill will protect fragile ecosystems and boost
the economic bloc’s clean technology industry.
Last week members of the European parliament joined environmental
campaigners in Strasbourg, France to display 5-meter tall
inflatable lungs outside the European Parliament, demanding that
the Commission put forward its clean air package before the “year
of air” ends.
Business leaders, including electricity association Eurelectric,
chemicals federation Cefic and mining association Euromines have
strongly resisted the new limits, claiming they would be
unaffordable and stifle industry.