The latest edition of WHO air quality guidelines for ambient air pollutants was published in 2006, and included recommendations for particulate matter (PM), ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2).
Since then, the evidence base for adverse health effects related to short- and long-term exposure to these pollutants has become much larger and broader. The WHA Resolution recognised the role of WHO guidelines for both ambient air quality and indoor air quality in providing guidance and recommendations for clean air that protect human health. In particular, it requested the Director-General to strengthen WHO capacities in the field of air pollution and health through the development and regular update of WHO guidelines in order to facilitate decision making, and to provide support and guidance to Member States in their efficient implementation.
As a result in 2016 WHO has started the work towards the update of the Global Air Quality Guidelines. The project is benefitting from funds and/or in-kind support from the European Commission (DG-Environment), the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It is expected to provide up-to-date recommendations to continue protecting populations worldwide from the adverse health effects of ambient air pollution.
Real World Visuals have been working on ways to visualise air quality.
This blog looks at different ways to visualise emissions to air from cruise ships.
They were inspired by a Costing the Earth programme on BBC Radio 4, which highlighted the problems of air pollution from cruise ships docked in Southampton and Greenwich, London. As a thirteen year old astmha sufferer in Greenwich says (Costing the Earth, BBC Radio 4):
“Air pollution effects everybody. If you could physically see it then a lot of people would take action on it.”
We thought the blog was pretty cool. What do you think?
The United States Environment Protection Agency (US EPA) has updated Sections 5.1, 8.13, and 13.5 of AP-42 to incorporate the following new and revised emissions factors.
Flares – VOC, CO (revised)
Sulphur Recovery Units: NOx, CO, THC
Catalytic Reforming Units: THC
Hydrogen Plants: NOx
Fluid Catalytic Cracking Units: HCN
The revisions and supporting documentation can be accessed here.
This update follows a settlement agreement reached between the EPA and plaintiffs in Air Alliance Houston et al. v EPA Case No. 15-1210 (D.C. Cir.).
In December, 1952, London was gripped by a “great smog” that wreaked havoc on the city for days and resulted in several thousand deaths. The severity of the event provided a wake-up call to legislators and prompted a series of regulatory changes to address the problem of air pollution in UK cities, including the landmark Clean Air Act of 1956. 60 years on, however, the health effects of air pollution are still unacceptably high. In 2013 alone, exposure to one type of air pollution—particulate matter less than 2·5 μm in diameter (PM2.5)—was estimated to be responsible for almost 40 000 premature deaths in the UK. Overall, data presented in the Nov 23, 2016, European Environmental Agency (EEA) report on air quality in Europe indicates that air pollution is responsible for an estimated 467 000 premature deaths each year across 41 European countries.
Most premature deaths from air pollution are caused by cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory disease, but there is growing evidence that air pollution might have much broader effects, including on preterm birth, fertility, diabetes, childhood neurological development, and adult neurological conditions. The EEA report outlines that despite notable improvements in some sectors, air pollution remains the single largest environmental health risk in Europe. Key European Union (EU) and WHO recommended exposure limits are being exceeded in several urban centres across Europe and will continue to do so unless current trends are drastically improved on.
So what must be done? Air pollution is a problem that crosses disciplines and borders, and will necessarily require multidisciplinary solutions that engage urban planning, public health, law, and cultural change. On Nov 23, 2016, the EU had an opportunity to drive such change when Members of the European Parliament voted on updated National Emission Ceilings. The newly agreed targets will likely cut premature deaths from air pollution by up to 50% by 2030—an improvement, yes, but considering how many lives will continue to be prematurely lost each year, it is clear that these aims do not go nearly as far as they should.
In the past week, five west African countries – Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Ivory Coast – announced plans to end the practice of European oil companies and traders exporting “African quality” diesel. “African quality” fuel is highly polluting fuel that contain sulphur levels sometimes hundreds of times higher than European levels that could never be sold in Europe. It’s been termed “dirty fuel” because the diesel imported from Europe contain levels of sulphur as high as 3,000 parts per million (ppm) when the European maximum has been 10 ppm since 2009 (the same as here in New Zealand). Fuels with high-sulphur content are contributors to respiratory diseases such as bronchitis and asthma.
A report published by Swiss NGO Public Eye in September accused oil companies for exporting fuels to west Africa, “allowing traders and companies to exploit weak standards to export cheap, dirty fuels in a process that Public Eye said was maximising profits at the expense of African’s health.”
As part of an initiative by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the west African nations have agreed to ban imports of high-sulphur diesel fuels with permitted levels of sulphur in imported diesel will fall from 3,000 ppm in some of the countries to 50 ppm. The head of UN Environment, Erik Solheim said: “West Africa is sending a strong message that is it no longer accepting dirty fuels from Europe. Their decision to set strict new standards for cleaner, safer fuels and advanced vehicle emission standards shows they are placing the health of their people first.”
The five countries have also agreed to upgrade their national refineries to bring locally produced diesel up to the same quality by 2020.
On 18 November 2016 Louise presented to the Environmental Compliance Conference her review of air quality case law. Billed as a presentation to restore your faith in New Zealand’s legal system, it is now available online:
The UK government has lost a High Court case over its failure to air pollution across the country. The judge, Mr Justice Garnham agreed with ClientEarth’s environmental lawyers, that “the government had failed to take measures that would bring the UK into compliance with the law ‘as soon as possible’ and said that ministers knew that over optimistic pollution modelling was being used”.
ClientEarth CEO James Thornton said “I am pleased that the judge agrees with us that the government could and should be doing more to deal with air pollution and protecting people’s health. That’s why we went to court.”
ClientEarth air quality lawyer Alan Andrews added: “The government also needs to stop these inaccurate Modelling forecasts. Future projections of compliance need to be based on what is really coming out of the exhausts of diesel cars when driving on the road, not just the results of discredited laboratory tests.”
The online version of the Auckland Council Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan has been updated to show the parts that are under appeal and the parts that can now be treated as operative.
The annotated plan can be accessed via the link below:
Gerda will be presenting at the New Zealand Transport Fuels & Fleet Management Summit 2016 this October, on transport related air emissions in New Zealand. The Summit brings together key stakeholders to discuss major transport energy and fleet management trends and opportunities with the aim of improving the efficiency, productivity and safety of New Zealand’s commercial fleets.
See the attached flyer or visit http://www.fuels.co.nz for more information on the event.
ClientEarth environmental lawyers are now legally active on air pollution in five European countries: the UK, Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic and Poland. They state that more European cities will face court action in the coming months.
This week, Prague was added to the list. The Czech authorities have negotiated a number of derogations from EU air quality law and missed deadlines on complying with them. In the Czech Republic, an estimated 10,000 early deaths each year are attributed to air pollution.
Prague is the second city in the Czech Republic to face legal action by ClientEarth and local partners for breaching EU air pollution laws.
ClientEarth CEO James Thornton said: “This case is part of a wave of clean air cases across Europe. In the past two weeks, Brno, Brussels and now Prague have joined the list of cities where people are fighting for their right to breathe clean air. Governments across the EU have been far too slow in responding to the public health crisis caused by air pollution. Toxic air contributes to more than 400,000 premature deaths in the EU every year.”
Action by courts in other countries shows that they are increasingly willing to order concrete action to clean up air pollution. In a ruling in Düsseldorf, Germany, earlier this month the authorities were ordered not to wait for federal government action but introduce a ban on diesel vehicles on the most polluted roads by January 2018.
This comes as new findings by the World Bank estimate 5.5 million lives were lost worldwide in 2013 alone as a result of the impacts of air pollution. The study valued the 2013 global cost of lost labour attributed to air pollution at $225bn.
Thornton added: “Legal action like this can make a positive difference to the lives of thousands of people. Courts in the UK and Germany have already ordered the authorities to take concrete action to clean up illegal air pollution.
“We hope for equally positive results in the Czech Republic.”
