Up in the air: EU ambient air quality standards

EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said he was "very pleased" by the Council's vote, adding that the directive would "reduce people's exposure to [PM2.5] by 20% between 2010 and 2019".

"Every year 370,000 people in Europe are dying prematurely from diseases linked to air pollution - 350,000 of them because of the fine dust particles known as PM2.5. We have to reduce these shocking figures, and for that we need an ambitious directive," Dimas said.

However, efforts at reducing emissions from cars recently suffered a setback when the Parliament's environment committee effectively delayed until 2011 carmakers' obligation to meet new standards known as Euro 5 (EurActiv 18/09/06).

The new schedule is in line with demands expressed by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA). In a position paper last year, ACEA said "a 3 year minimum period is required for industrial development", meaning that it could plan introducing Euro 5 as from 2010 at the earliest. "Earlier pull ahead is not possible," ACEA stated. ACEA spokesperson Sigrid de Vries did not wish to comment on the report until its final approval in plenary. "We confirm our position from last year," she said.

But Green NGO Transport & Environment (T&E) says the technology is already there, pointing out that the new Mercedes-Benz E320 BlueTec already meets new NOx limit values in force in the US. The Parliament, said T&E, delayed those stricter limit values by postponing next generation emissions standards (Euro 6) to at least September 2015.

Jos Dings of T&E said: "Apparently Europe's cleanest, most innovative diesel engine technology is too good for Europeans. We'll have to carry on breathing dirty air until 2015, while the Yanks can stroll down to their local Mercedes dealer today and pick up a clean diesel car."

"For the pollutant PM2.5, Californian and even US federal air quality rules require limit values that are more than twice as strict as those being recommended by the European Parliament," said Finnish Green MEP Satu Hassi in a statement after the Council's vote.

Developments in the Parliament over Euro 5 standards were also met with concern by Yara, the multinational chemicals company based in Oslo, Norway. Yara said the Parliament committee vote last month was "a great disappointment for a wide range of stakeholders, not only for the NGO world, but also for the industry that has dared to look ahead and invest in the R&D of technology and infrastructure for NOx after-treatment systems".

"As EU legislation stands today, clean diesel cars with after-treatment systems will not be required in the EU until 2014/2015," said Yara in a feasibility paper. "The resulting effect is that European car manufacturers for the next nine years will export cleaner vehicles to the US and Japan than what will be available on the European market."

Air policy officer Kerstin Meyer at the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), a federation of 143 environmental NGOs, said: "At least ministers have made clear that they're not seeking as much extra time for meeting our air quality limits for particles as Parliament has recommended. We simply cannot afford to wait for cleaner air. The new car standards must therefore also be brought in sooner and they must be strengthened."