Welcome to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcasts.

In this podcast, we'll talk about the new EU plans to improve the quality of the air we breathe

and achieve zero pollution for air at the latest by 2050. Want to know how? Stay with us.

Each year, 300,000 Europeans die prematurely due to air pollution alone, from heart and lung diseases or pollution-induced cancers.

Particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and ozone are the worst pollutants for human health. But air pollution

also harms natural ecosystems and our economies, costing public authorities up to 853 billion euros per year.

Although the quality of our air has improved substantially since the EU first started to tackle

this issue in the

1970s, Europe's air is still too polluted, especially in and around cities, and citizens are

concerned about it.

The current EU directives on air quality set standards for concentration levels of key

air pollutants, but the last update dates back to 2008.

And since then, new scientific evidence about the health impacts of air pollution has become available.

In the light of this, in 2021, the World Health Organization updated its global air quality guidelines

and recommended the adoption of stricter standards.

But what has the EU done?

Well, learning the lessons from current laws and in line with the Green Deals

and the Zero Pollution Action Plan's ambition, the European Commission also set to further

improving the quality of the air we breathe.

So what is the Commission proposing exactly?

The proposed new rules set air quality standards for 2030 that are more closely aligned

with the WHO recommendations and put us in the path to zero air pollution by 2050 at the very latest.

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