Thousands of new low emission zones: EU reduces air quality limits - The Green-Zones® Analysis:

363 out of 635 MEPs voted in favour of lowering the air limits on 13.09.2023. Thus, the decision was not clear-cut, but the tightening of the limit values will come in the next ten years. Affected are various pollutants such as particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), NO2 (nitrogen dioxide), SO2 (sulphur dioxide) and O3 (ozone).

These pollutants are the driving force behind driving bans in Europe. The implementation of clean air plans and the associated introduction and lifting of environmental zones and diesel driving bans, the activation of temporary zones in countries such as France and also the banning of combustion engines in so-called zero-emission zones - all this stands and falls with the particulate matter, nitrogen oxide and ozone levels.

There has long been criticism that the limits set by the EU are clearly too high. In 2018, the World Health Organisation (WHO) revised its guideline values for pollutants significantly downwards. The previous values were from 2005 and were thus outdated. The values still used by the EU were partly above the WHO values even before the adjustment. However, after 2018 at the latest, the discrepancy was enormous. The air in the EU is therefore clean on paper in many places, but measured against the WHO standards it is by no means harmless to health.  Experts estimate that around 300,000 people in the EU die prematurely every year as a result of air pollution.

This is now to change. The EU wants to adapt the standards to the latest air quality guidelines of the WHO in order to protect human health, natural ecosystems and biodiversity in the EU. To this end, the limit values are to be corrected significantly downwards: For nitrogen dioxide, for example, the limit value must be reduced by a factor of four in order to meet the WHO guideline. While today the limit is 40 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³) of air, by 2035 it should be only 10 µg/m³. For the smaller fine dust particles (PM2.5), the value would even have to be reduced to a fifth: From 25 µg/m³ to 5 µg/m³. For larger particulate matter, it would still be 15 µg/m³ instead of 40 µg/m³. But already five years before this deadline, i.e. from 2030, the EU wants to correct the values downwards a little. Nitrogen dioxide and PM10 will then be permitted at 20 µg/m³, and PM2.5 at 10 µg/m³.

A calculation example shows what the new values could mean from 2035: While in 2021 about eight percent of the EU population lived in areas where air pollution was above the limit values, with the new limit values it would be about 77 percent. This means that more than three quarters of the population live in areas where measures would have to be taken to reduce air pollution. With currently about 1,200 low emission zones and other driving bans in Europe, a tenfold increase in areas with bad air would therefore possibly mean the introduction of more than 10,000 new low emission zones or other driving bans. In eastern Germany, for example, air pollution is clearly too high in some places. If the new limits were already in place, air pollution in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia would already have been exceeded several times this year in some places. In Saxony, for example, a quarter of the population lives in areas where particulate pollution is significantly above the new limits. But not only there. Berlin and some places in the Ruhr area would also have to make improvements. Otherwise, large-scale environmental zones and driving bans with stricter rules than before are quite conceivable there.

But the EU's demand goes even further. The states and cities should not only take measures when the air quality is too bad. The EU calls on the member states to act proactively to improve air quality even before the new limit values are introduced to such an extent that it can be seen that the new values can be met. To do this, countries must outline short- and long-term measures, formulate new clean air plans where necessary and implement measures before the new limits arrive.

The EU also wants to harmonise the fragmented and less intuitive air quality indices that currently exist in the EU. This should create more transparency and comparability between countries. In addition, significantly more measurements are to be carried out in order to be able to analyse and improve air quality across the board. The EU aims to achieve zero air pollution by 2050.

The EU Parliament must now negotiate with the Council on the final form of the law.  

While more and more low emission zones are being introduced in the EU, there are also always cities that lift driving bans and low emission zones again. In Hanover, for example, there will no longer be a low emission zone from January 2024, and in Hamburg the diesel driving bans were lifted just last week. In view of the new limit values, these measures could soon be reversed.

It would be desirable for the EU countries to take the EU Commission's decision as an opportunity to proactively change cities and, for example, create more climate- and environmentally-friendly alternatives. In the next few years, smart cities should be created in which people no longer have to drive so much through the city to get to the doctor, hospital, school and daycare centre or leisure facilities, for example. In addition, there should be a public transport system that also provides good access to the outskirts of the city and is offered - if not free of charge - then at least at affordable prices. The network of cycle paths should be improved. Speed limits and gateway traffic lights could better regulate traffic flow to reduce congestion. Environmental lanes could make carpooling more attractive. Cities also need to become (even) greener so that plants can help clean the air. Greening balconies and gardens instead of sealing them can contribute to this.  

So politicians have a lot to do in the next few years. But we individual citizens should also contribute to making the air in cities better. Otherwise, as described, we will soon see many driving bans and environmental zones.