How can we ensure cleaner air for Europe?

Cefic encourages decision-makers to continue basing policies to improve air quality in Europe on enhanced scientific information and tools in order to protect and safeguard human health.

Most of the time, we cannot see the air and what it contains without using complex tools. This fact tends to fuel emotional anxiety about its hidden or secret particles. With consumers growing increasingly aware of problems with our air quality and applying increased pressure, EU authorities have begun to collect data and submit legislative proposals on the issue. The European chemical industry can offer an objective and dispassionate contribution to this debate.

Cefic position on the air debate

Improving air quality requires appropriate focus on air pollutants and their sources. Their diversity has forced EU decision-makers to employ superior modelling and analysing tools to investigate the complexity of air pollution.

Both consumer behaviour and industry processes have a shared impact on the quality of the air we breathe. The EU thematic strategy on air pollution was established to reduce adverse effects on health as a result of air pollutants. The strategy involves controls on fine particles, sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, lead, benzene and carbon monoxide.

The strategy is dependent on long- term investments and must be based on well informed decisions. Cefic supports  strategies that insist on comprehensive views, deal with technical and societal issues, and also aim at managing air pollutants at the earliest stage of the process - and not only at the end of the pipe. Cefic argues that it is not cost-efficient to focus on some air pollutants only, neglecting the others and ignoring the potential side effects of some new substitutive solutions which have yet to be carefully analysed.

Cefic contribution on the improvement of air quality

Cefic contributed to Clean Air For Europe (CAFE), a programme launched in 2004 by the European Commission to analyse needs, with a special focus on ozone, particulate matters and nitrogen oxides. Now closed, it was the CAFE programme that underpinned the 6th Environment Action Programme and its thematic strategy on air pollution adopted in 2005.

Cefic urges that, when working on new legislative tools, a proportion of the collected data and contributions should come from a representative part of the manufacturing industry. Such regulations are also closely linked with energy usage and the related policies driven by Member States to implement future scenarios.

Next steps

A National Emission Ceiling review is currently in progress.  The proposal from the European Commission for a directive to review this ceiling is now expected to be presented at end of 2010.