Consequences for the Netherlands of the EU thematic strategy on air pollution

Summary

The problem

Although air quality has greatly improved during the last decades, current levels of air pollution still have adverse effects on ecosystems and human health. In addition to this, the current EU air quality limit values for nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and particulate matter (PM₁₀) are being exceeded in many locations in the Netherlands. Consequently, a large number of plans for spatial development are rejected because they do not conform to currently legislated limit values. This has serious economic and societal consequences.

The proposal

In September 2005 the European Commission presented a thematic strategy on air pollution and a proposal for a new air quality directive for the abatement of air pollution in the European Union (EU). In this directive the Commission proposes to maintain the current limit values for nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and particulate matter (PM₁₀) and to introduce a new limit value for the finer particulate matter (PM_2.5). For compliance purposes, the Commission proposes to discount the contribution of natural sources from air pollution and to extend the attainment date of limit values by a maximum of 5 years if certain conditions are met. The Commission also proposes an ambition level to tighten the emission ceilings in order to reduce the emission of air pollution.

Can the Netherlands meet the proposed requirements?

The measures proposed by the European Commission would greatly reduce air pollution while providing benefits to health that would be many times larger than the abatement costs. Attainment of the NO₂ limit value in the Netherlandsis possible under the new measures, provided that a 5-year extension of the attainment date is acknowledged. However, this is not the case for the limit value for particulate matter. The large-scale exceedances of PM₁₀ will probably be avoided; however local exceedances will probably remain, and these may still have serious consequences for spatial planning. Exceedances of the new concentration cap for PM_2.5 will probably occur; however since the PM₁₀ limit value is stricter, no new areas with exceedances are expected for particulate matter. Extra national and, in particular, European-wide measures will be required to meet the limit value for PM₁₀ in the Netherlands. The potential for achieving additional national abatement policy is, in fact, limited and expensive, while the foreign contribution to particulate air pollution is large.

Ambition level of the thematic strategy and proposed measures

If the air quality limit values are actually to be realized in the future, it is crucial that the EU source policy –which still has to be worked out –will at least meet the ambition level taken up in the thematic strategy. This is of special importance with respect to reducing air pollution originating from road traffic because road traffic at bottlenecks makes a large contribution to the poor air quality.The most recent proposal (July 2005) of the European Commission for tightening EU emission standards for light-duty road traffic sets a comparable level for particulate matter but a lower ambition level for nitrogen oxide than the ambition level on which the strategy is based. This lower ambition level will, in the Netherlands, prevent timely attainment of the NO₂ limit value.