Despite committing to a zero pollution ambition, the European Commission’s latest action plan may not propose any new binding actions to clean up Europe’s air, water and soil.
Today, the European Commission published its much-awaited Zero Pollution Action Plan – one of the last missing pieces of the European Green Deal.
The aim of the plan is to prevent, minimise and remediate the pollution of air, water and soil across Europe, strengthening the EU’s commitment to protect people’s health and the environment.
However, the proposal falls short on ramping up action to prevent pollution at source and instead mainly lists existing legal obligations and ongoing reviews of EU laws.
The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) is Europe’s largest network of green NGOs.
Patrick ten Brink, EEB Deputy Secretary General and Director of EU Policy said: ‘Science is clear about the urgency to reduce all kinds of pollution, and citizens deserve the right to live in a safe and clean environment. The Commission is capping ambition starting from the wrong assumption – that there are safe levels of pollution. This is a missed opportunity to fully embrace zero pollution.’
The EEB highlight that some of the main objectives and targets set out in the Action Plan are largely based on existing targets already established by other European Green Deal initiatives:
- improving air quality to reduce the number of premature deaths caused by air pollution by 55%;
- improving water quality by reducing waste, plastic litter at sea (by 50%) and microplastics released into the environment (by 30%);
- improving soil quality by reducing nutrient losses and chemical pesticides’ use by 50%;
- reducing by 25% the EU ecosystems where air pollution threatens biodiversity;
- reducing the share of people chronically disturbed by transport noise by 30%, and
- significantly reducing waste generation and by 50% residual municipal waste.
Margherita Tolotto, EEB Senior Policy Officer for Air and Noise, said: ‘The European Commission missed a chance to step up the fight against air pollution with concrete actions, to fill the gaps in other strategies and and to give air quality the relevance it deserves within the EU Green Deal.
‘More monitoring and reporting are not enough: citizens and nature need clean air now.’
This comes after the news that 63 per cent of Europe’s city residents support a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars after 2030.
Photo credit: Pexels Markus / Distelrath
