Air Pollution, Human Health and the Environment. EEA Report

Consumer Gold Cactus 2024, the black palm awarded by consumers

16 January 2025

'The Last Island', the film about the Lampedusans heroes in the shipwreck of October 3

29 January 2025

Published by Sabrina Bergamini on 25 January 2025

Air pollution and health damage

The view comes from the Agency's information note «Harm to human health from air pollution in Europe: burden of disease status 2024» (2024)

The data Among other things, in counting the thousands of deaths attributable to pollution, they report an improving trend for long-term exposure to fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ozone, the three main pollutants.

Between 2005 and 2022 'The number of deaths in the EU attributable to fine particulate matter or PM2,5 has fallen by 45%, remaining on track to reach the 55% reduction target set out in the EU's 'Zero Pollution' Action Plan for 2030., writes the European Environment Agency.

The goals Europe's aim is to reduce the impact of air pollution, towards Zero Pollution, with the introduction of new rules that came into force last December.

It is certain that pollution atmospheric, writes the EEA, 'continues to pose the main environmental risk to the health of Europeans (followed by other factors such as exposure to noise and chemicals as well as the increasing health effects of climate-related heatwaves) and is responsible for chronic diseases and attributable deaths, particularly in cities and urban areas'.

Air pollution, estimated deaths in EU-27

Analyzing the data on mortality due to all natural causes (i.e. excluding accidental and other non-natural causes), attributable to long-term exposure to the main air pollutants, the European Environment Agency estimates that in the EU-27 in 2022:

239.000 2,5 deaths were attributable to exposure to PM 5 concentrations above the WHO guidance level of XNUMX µg/m³ (micrograms per cubic metre of air);
70.000 deaths were attributed to exposure to O3 concentrations above the WHO guideline level of 60 µg/m³;
48.000 deaths were attributed to exposure to NO2 concentrations above the WHO guidance level of 10 µg/m³.

Italy boasts the sad record of the highest number of deaths attributed to PM 2,5 in 2022 (followed by Poland and Germany).

The deaths attributable to PM 2,5 in Italy are estimated at over 48 thousand (the number is 48.610: in practice one fifth of the 239 thousand victims estimated in the EU 27 are recorded in our country); 9.620 are the deaths attributable to nitrogen dioxide and 13.640 those attributable to ozone pollution.

Air pollution and ecosystems

Air pollution degrades environments, reduces biodiversity, damages the health of ecosystems in different ways.

The note of the Agency 'Impacts of air pollution on ecosystems in Europe' (3) examines the exposure of vegetation to key air pollutants and how this translates into crop yield and economic losses.

Nitrogen present in the air and deposited in ecosystems increases the nutrient load (eutrophication) and this causes changes in the structure of ecosystems and plant species that can be lost, or develop more if they benefit from high levels of nitrogen, thus changing the structure of an ecosystem.

In 2022, explains the EEA, '73% of EU ecosystems were above critical loads for eutrophication'.

A third of the land agricultural crops have been exposed to too high concentrations of ground-level ozone, resulting in crop damage and economic losses. Ozone damages forests, reduces plant growth rates, and compromises biodiversity. The negative impact of ozone is also measured in reduced yields of wheat and potatoes, with losses estimated in 2022 of €1,3 billion for wheat and €680 million for potatoes across Europe.

Then there are heavy metals, toxic pollutants that are deposited in ecosystems, accumulate in soils and subsequently bioaccumulate (that is, a substance builds up within an organism over its lifetime).

Zero Pollution

The The revised Directive on air quality (Directive (EU) 2024/2881) entered into force on 10 December 2024 and introduces new air quality standards to be achieved by 2030 (4). The pollutants it refers to include, among others, particulate matter PM10 and PM2,5, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide.

However, there will be the possibility of postponing the deadline to achieve the planned objectives: 'In specific circumstances, Member States may have additional time to comply with the new rules.'. Furthermore, the legislation 'will ensure that people suffering from health damage due to air pollution have the right to compensation' in case of violation of EU air quality rules.

Sabrina Bergamini