Chapter 6 | European Union
153
Chapter 6
European Union
Hi g h l i g h t s
The European Union has taken important steps to improve air quality over the past decades. Between 1990 and 2013, SO
X
emissions fell by almost 90 and NO
X
emissions by more than half; PM
2.5
emissions dropped by almost one-fifth since 2000. The main policy instruments adopted include: increasingly stringent Euro
standards for road transport; the Large Combustion Plant Directive and its successor, the Industrial Emissions Directive, for the power and industry sectors; and
the EcoDesign Directive, the VOC stage I and the Paints Directive for the buildings sector. Even so, air pollution is still the single-largest environmental health risk in the
European Union today: in 2015, the premature death of an estimated 340 000 people was attributed to outdoor air pollution, average life expectancy was reduced
by six months and around half of the European Union
’s 5 million inhabitants were exposed to PM
2.5
concentration levels above the WHO guideline.
Energy demand in the European Union in the New Policies Scenario is projected to decrease by 15 from today to 2040, with the share of renewables in primary
energy demand more than doubling. NO
X
emissions decline by 55 as regulation to combat air pollution becomes more stringent, in particular in road transport, and
energy efficiency increases. SO
2
emissions fall by 47 by 2040 due to reduced coal use in power generation, energy efficiency measures in buildings and the lower
emissions intensity of coal-fired power stations. PM
2.5
emissions fall by less than 20 through 2040 as higher use of biomass in households and in power generation
partly offsets declining emissions from fossil fuels.
In the Clean Air Scenario, stricter pollution control standards, further improvements in energy efficiency in buildings and a higher penetration of renewables in power
generation help to cut air pollutants further, particularly PM
2.5
. These measures not only help to reduce the number of premature deaths in the European Union in 2040
to less than 180 000, more than 20 below the level of the New Policies Scenario, but also reduce the number of people being exposed to PM
2.5
concentration levels above the WHO guideline to less than 10 by 2040. Important co-benefits include
the reduction of the EU fossil-fuel import bill by around 120 billion and a reduction of CO
2
emissions by 260 Mt or 13 in 2040.
© OECDIEA,
2016
154 World Energy Outlook 2016 |
Special Report
The energy and air quality context
The European Union EU has seen a steady decline of pollutant emissions: nitrogen oxides NO
X
pollutants have been cut by more than half and sulfur oxides SO
X
emissions by almost 90 since the 1990s, while particulate matter
1
PM
2.5
emissions have fallen almost one-fifth since 2000 EEA, 2015a. This is despite the fact that economic growth averaged
1.6 per year since 1990 and the population increased from 478 million in 1990 to around 510 million today. Fine particulate emissions derived from coal and biomass combustion in
households, and from commercial and institutional buildings, however, bucked the trend, rising by around 9 and 11 respectively in the EU over the period from 2003 to 2012
EEA, 2015a from the recent surge in the use of biomass in boilers for heating, as an alternative to coal as a means of tackling climate change. Biomass use in the buildings
sector in 2015 accounted for more than 40 of total PM
2.5
emissions in the EU compared with around 33 on average in OECD countries. Industrial processes and the combustion
of coal in the power and industry sectors are still the largest sources of sulfur dioxide SO
2
emissions, and the transport sector is responsible for more than half of NO
X
emissions. Legislation to reduce air pollution in the EU has a long and varied history dating back to the
1970s. The four daughter directives of Directive 9662EC, together with the Ambient Air Quality Directive from 2008, set limits on target values for certain pollutants. Since 2010,
the National Emission Ceilings Directive determines emissions ceilings. In addition, source- specific legislation now covers power plants and industrial emissions through the Medium-
and Large Combustion Plant Directive and the Industrial Emissions Directive, road and off- road vehicle emissions, and fuel-quality standards. Where, despite these provisions, air
quality standards are not met in particular localities, the EU requires the implementation of air quality management plans designed to reduce concentrations below the relevant
standards. Despite these efforts, EU limits and target values for PM
2.5
continue to be exceeded in 17 member states EEA, 2015a.
While reductions in the emissions of many pollutants have resulted in a notable decrease of ambient concentrations SO
2
for example, this is not the case for all pollutants – the
complex atmospheric chemistry involved can prevent reductions in the emissions of certain pollutants from generating a corresponding drop in concentrations of some final pollutants.
For example, although there have been substantial reductions in the emissions of many of the precursors for PM and ozone in Europe, the associated concentrations generally have
decreased slowly. The European Environment Agency EEA estimates that 17 of the urban population in the EU in 2013 lived in areas where the air quality 24-hour limit for
PM
10
set by the EU was exceeded 61 of the urban population, if the stricter World Health Organization [WHO] air quality standards were applied EEA, 2015b. The direct resultant
1
Size is an important factor in determining the health impacts of PM: oarse parti les are etwee 2.5 and
10 i ro etres µ i dia eter a d fi e parti les are s aller tha .5 µm.
© OECDIEA,
2016
Chapter 6 | European Union
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