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The European Environment Agency (EEA) warned this Friday, April 1 of the number of people exposed to pollution and the risk posed. Eastern Europe and Italy are the most affected areas.
Despite the drop in emissions linked to Covid-19 restrictions, “96% of the urban population was exposed to concentrations of fine particles (PM2.5) above the annual average value of 5 micrograms (µg) per cubic meter recommended by the WHO”, warns the European Environment Agency (EEA). Only Estonia did not record an overrun.
“The data highlights the distance between legal EU standards, mostly set around 2000, and the latest 2021 guidelines from the World Health Organization (…) based on a thorough review the latest scientific evidence of how air pollution harms health”, AEE air quality expert Alberto González Ortiz told AFP. According to him, a revision of the European directives in this field is in progress in order to align the standards used more closely with the recommendations of the WHO.
According to the report, Eastern Europe and Italy are hardest hit with the highest concentrations of particulate matter and benzopyrene (a carcinogen) from burning solid fuels, such as coal and wood, to heating and the use of fossil fuels in industrial production.
7 million premature deaths per year due to pollution
The confinements have had positive effects on the quality of the air, the pollution of which is the cause of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. “Data shows that measures introduced in 2020 to stop or minimize the spread of Covid-19 have resulted in reduced activity in the road transport, aviation and international shipping sectors, leading to a reduction in emissions of atmospheric pollutants”noted the European agency.
But while nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels have fallen as a direct result of these reductions, with declines reaching 70% in April 2020, 89% of the urban population remained exposed to levels above WHO recommendations –but only 1% according to European criteria. The most frequent pollution beyond European standards concerns ozone, with annual thresholds exceeded in 21 European countries, including 15 EU members out of the 37 analysed. By taking the WHO standards, all countries in Europe are beyond the annual limits for this pollutant.
According to the WHO, air pollution causes seven million premature deaths a year in the world, a balance that places it at levels close to smoking or poor diet. In Europe, it is the greatest environmental risk to health. In 2019, fine particle pollution caused 307,000 premature deaths in the EU, the EEA estimated.