Air Quality in EEA and EECCA in 4 th Europe’s Environment assessment report, 2007

11th EIONET AQ workshop La Rochelle 26-27/10/2006

Air Quality in EEA and EECCA in

4th Europe’s Environment assessment Europe’s Environment assessment report, 2007 report, 2007

(‘the Belgrade report’)(‘the Belgrade report’)

Jaroslav FialaEuropean Environment Agency,

Hans EerensETC/ACC


Objectives of the Belgrade reportObjectives of the Belgrade report

• Kiev Ministerial declaration calls on EEA to prepare the fourth assessment report for the Environment for Europe ministerial conference in Belgrade in 2007.

• A request is to produce a short, policy oriented, indicator based report responding to the Belgrade agenda - assessing progress on EECCA strategy and based on recent information.

Progress and benchmarking Basis for action Awareness raising



Air Quality in EEA and EECCApart of the Environment and Health chapter

DPSIR casual chain applied throughout the chapter

Progress in air quality protection policy (D)• CLRTAP• EU air quality policy• EECCA Environmental strategy

Atmospheric Emissions (P)• Emission trends • Emission by topic and sector• Emission per capita in European and EECCA countries

Outdoor air quality (S)• Trends of health related air pollution• Particulate matter and toxic pollutants• Air pollution in EECCA region

Impact of air pollution (I)• Health impact • Acidification and eutrophication• Impact of ground level ozone on vegetation

Prospects (R)• Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution – revision of NECD• Challenges for the Convention

Document open for consultation (until 3 December 2006) :http://belgrade-consultation.ewindows.eu.org/reports/rep285401


Progress in air pollution control policy

CLRTAP• All EU and EFTA countries parties to CLRTAP• Almost all have signed protocols under the Convention• 9 EECCA – (AR, AZ, BE, GE, KA, KY, MO, RF, UR) parties to the

Convention• BE, RF and UR accepted the first 3 protocols• In 2002 MO ratified protocols on HM and POPs

EU policy on air quality• Over the period 1999–2004 four DD of FWD

(LV/TV for SO2, NO2, PM10, Pb, NOx; CO, C6H6; O3 and Cd, As, Ni and BaP (PAHs)

• NECD, LPC, directives controlling emissions from vehicles

EECCA Environmental strategy• Improvement of the environmental legislation

• Pollution Prevention and Control (~EU IPPC, permits)


Atmospheric emissionsAtmospheric emissions - trends - trendsTrend emissions Europe by sub-region, 1990-2003: official country reports to UN/ECE-EMEP, 2005-2030 projection (CAFE baseline current legislation with climate policies) IIASA/RAINS Emission trends

PM10 percursor - trend emissions and projections by sub-region.

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

1990 1995 2000 2005 2030

kt/y

EECCA

NWESEE

1990-2004 official country reports to UNECE2005-2030 CAFE Baseline current legislation with moderate climate

policy scenario, IIASA/RAINS

Ozone percursor - trend emissions and projections by sub-region.

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

1990 1995 2000 2005 2030

kt/y

EECCA

NWE

SEE

1990-2004 official country reports to UNECE2005-2030 CAFE Baseline current legislation with moderate climate

policy scenario, IIASA/RAINS

• The emissions of all pollutants have decreased since 1990 for NWE and EECCA, but not in SEE. (Discontinuity between 2004 (reported) and 2005 (projected) due to different sources of data)

• The same trend has occurred for acidifying and eutrophying substances, with reductions of 47% and 30% since 1990


Atmospheric emissions - Atmospheric emissions - per capitaper capita

source: official country reports to UN/ECE-EMEP


Outdoor air quality –Outdoor air quality –Particulate matter in EEA and EECCA regionParticulate matter in EEA and EECCA region

Annual PM10 urban concentrations, calculated by GMAPS and monitored PM10 concentrations in EEA countries, averaged through urban background stations, and TSP concentrations monitored in EECCA

Air pollution is among the most serious environmental problems faced by cities in the EECCA region as well.Lack of monitoring data of sufficient quality precludes in-depth assessment of the state of air quality in this region though air quality has been monitored in all the countries for many years Lack of funds has inhibited any major progress. Obsolete measuring methods are therefore still widely in use (UNECE, 2006).

TSP concentrations in EECCA countries are quite high comparing with the modelled data. Generally applied sampling procedure - 20 minutes three or four times a day - seem to lead to rather unreliable, and to some extent systematically overestimated observations. Nevertheless, modelled as well as observed PM data indicate that the pollution levels in the cities of most of the EECCA countries are high heaving corresponding health effects on the population in these cities.


Air pollution in EECCA regionAir pollution in EECCA region

Time evolution of air quality index API in largest cities of the Russian Federation

Increase of API is caused mainly by increase of air pollution by benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) in monitored cities of RF

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14API

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

• The number of cities with concentrations of BaP over MAC has increased in the last five years (to 47% in 2004).

• This increase in BaP concentration is assumed to be caused by forest fires, by an increase of industrial production without implementation of respective abetment measures, by an increase of usage of diesel cars and by waste incineration.

• High concentrations of BaP are observed in winter months which indicates increased consumption of solid fuels for domestic heating


Impact of air pollution and Responses Impact of air pollution and Responses (Prospects)(Prospects)

• Specific air quality policies of the CAFE Strategy will significantly improve air quality and reduce the impacts both on human health and ecosystems.

• Projected effects are the largest for the air pollution problem which may be considered as the most crucial one: loss of life expectancy because of PM exposure.

• They are smaller, but still very significant for three other impact indicators: damages due to exceedance of critical loads for acidification, damages due to excess nitrogen deposition, and health and the environment damages due to ozone exposure.

Level of ambition

Benefits

▪Cost of reducti

on

(Euro bn)

Human health Natural environment ( 000 km2)

Monetised health benefits (Euro bn)

Life years lost due to

fine particles (million)

Premature deaths due to fine particles

and O3

Acidification (forested

area exceeded)

Eutrophication (ecosystem

area exceeded)

Ozone(forest area exceeded)

2000 - 3.62 370 000 243 733 827 -

Baseline 2020 - 2.47 293 000 119 590 764 -

Strategy 2020 42-135 1.91 230 000 63 416 699 7.1

MTFR 2020 56-181 1.72 208 000 36 193 381 39.7

Summary of the CAFE analysis and the TS on Air Pollution

Emissions reduction (Baseline and TS scenario

for 2002)

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

SO2 NOx VOC NH3 PM2.5

2000

Base line 2020

Thematic Strategy


attributed to anthropogenic contributions to PM2.5 (months)

Loss in statistical life expectancyLoss in statistical life expectancy

Emission levels: 2000Source: IIASA; TSAP, DG Env

projected emission for 2020 Thematic Strategy


EutrophicationEutrophication

Percentage of total ecosystems receiving nitrogen deposition above the critical loads for eutrophication

Emission levels: 2000Source: IIASA; TSAP, DG Env

projected emission for 2020 Thematic Strategy


Prospects in UNECE regionProspects in UNECE region

• Future progress in air quality protection in EECCA and UNECE region in general could be connected with envisaged challenges for the Convention.

• These are predominately focussed to particulate matter pollution, and air pollution and climate change issues and linkages.

• To include particulate matter in any future air pollution strategies of the Convention requires to set not only an emission ceiling for anthropogenic emissions of PM10 and/or PM2.5 but also to further lower the existing emissions ceilings for their precursors.


Conclusions – key messagesConclusions – key messages• In NWE, air pollution, mainly by fine particles and ground level ozone,

continues to pose a significant threat to human health: it shortens average life expectancy by almost one year.

• In EECCA, the poor quality of the data precludes in-depth assessment of the state of air quality and its consequences. The limited data available indicate that the main health threats from air pollution are also from small particles and their toxic constituents.

• Air pollution also still poses a serious threat to the environment and agricultural production in many parts of Europe through the acidification and eutrophication of lakes, rivers, forests and other ecosystems, and damage to forests, crops and vegetation by ground-level ozone.

• The main contributor to air pollution in cities is the continuing growth in road transport. Emissions from industry, power production and households also contribute substantially in urban areas in many parts of EECCA, central and eastern Europe and in the Balkan countries.

• Emissions and exposures to the public and ecosystems in NWE are projected to fall significantly by 2020 as a result of the continuing systematic and concerted efforts being paid to air pollution problems.

• Emissions in EECCA are expected to rise, with consequent worsening in air quality. Stronger efforts will be needed to achieve levels of air quality that do not pose significant threats to human health and the environment.


Thank you for your attention !

Documents

Air Quality in EEA and EECCA in 4 th Europe’s Environment assessment report, 2007