Air pollution continues to harm the health of European citizens as well as the performance of the European Economy.  A new report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) shows that exposure to high-levels of air pollution caused 412,000 premature deaths in 2016. Despite minor improvements, pollution levels regularly exceeded European Union (EU) limits and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

More than a Climate Emergency

Air pollution is a health issue with deadly consequences. Its effects are acute and trigger strokes, chronic respiratory diseases, asthma attacks, and lung cancer. Nonetheless, year after year, European countries and cities are failing to protect citizens against the detrimental impacts of pollution. "We have not yet reached the EU standards and of course we are far from reaching the WHO (World Health Organization) standards,” says EEA air quality expert Alberto González Ortiz.

In fact, more than 90% of Europeans living in urban areas are regularly exposed to harmful O3 levels that exceed WHO guidelines.

On World Environment Day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, emphasized the link between worsening levels of air pollution, declining global health and the escalating climate crisis:

Air pollution is claiming 7 million deaths per year and damaging children’s development. Many air pollutants also cause global warming and climate change is an existential threat (…) there is no time to lose. This is the battle of our lives. We must win and we can.

Air Pollution levels must be reduced to save lives and curb climate change.The transport sector in particular still has a long way to go. To keep temprature rise below 2°C, transport emissions must drop by 60% (from 1990 levels). However, while all other commercial sectors have reduced emissions, transport emissions were 26.1% higher in 2016 relative to 1990. 

More Cycling to Avoid Air Pollution

Cycling and active mobility have become more important and powerful than ever. At the current levels, cycling saves 16 Million tons of CO2 per year and prevents 18,110 premature deaths per year in the EU.

As António Guterres highlights, yes, we can do it. Over the years, ECF collected several success stories from cities and countries that have tapped into the potential of cycling and are beating air pollution:

•  Finland aims to achieve zero-carbon emissions by 2035. The central government will invest about €50 million in walking and cycling.
• On the world car-free Sunday, air pollutants dropped by 80% in Brussels. For one day of the year, emission levels stayed well within WHO guidelines.
• After through traffic was eliminated in Leuven, air quality improved and in some places, the concentration of black carbon fell as much as 2,5 times.
• If Barcelona created all 503 car-free superblocks, air pollution could decrease by a quarter
• After London introduced new emission rules toxic air pollution fell by a third

"It is time for Cities and authorities to realize that the most effective solution to secure citizen’s health is to ban polluting vehicles. Private car drivers must be pushed towards less polluting transport modes, such as clean public transport, walking and cycling." argues Fabian Küster, ECF Senior Policy Officer. Without additional policy interventions, it is expected that EU transport-related greenhouse gases emissions would be 75% higher in 2050 than they were in 1990.

What is ECF doing?

ECF advocates for wide acknowledgment of cycling as a zero-emission mode of transport, which avoids the environmentally damaging by-products of individual motorized transport: air pollution, noise pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

ECF Position Papers & Reports: