Air pollution in Europe

Air pollution harms human health and the environment. In Europe, emissions of many air pollutants have decreased substantially over the past decades, due to in improved air quality across the region. However, air pollutant concentrations are still too high, and air quality problems persist.


The Air Quality in Europe report, published late last year by the European Environmental Agency (EEA), found that air pollution had significantly impacted the health of EU, particularly in urban areas. It analysed air quality from 2000 to 2014 based on data from official monitoring stations across Europe, including more than 400 cities.

Air quality, according to the report, was slowly improving but air pollution remained the single largest environmental health hazard in Europe, resulting in a lower quality of life due to illnesses and an estimated 467,000 premature deaths every year.

The report also found that in 2014 around 85 percent of the urban population in the EU were exposed to fine particulate matter at levels deemed harmful to health by the World Health Organization (WHO). Particulate matter can cause or aggravate cardiovascular diseases, asthma and lung cancer.

"Emission reductions have led to improvements in air quality in Europe, but not enough to avoid unacceptable damage to human health and the environment,” said EEA executive director Hans Bruyninckx on publication of the report.


Source of air pollution

There are various sources of air pollution, both anthropogenic and of natural origin:

-burning of fossil fuels in electricity generation, transport, industry and households;
-industrial processes and solvent use, for example in chemical and mineral industries;
  agriculture;
-waste treatment;
-volcanic eruptions, windblown dust, sea-salt spray and emissions of volatile organic compounds   from plants are examples of natural emission sources.

More info pls find www dot olansigroup dot com
Melody Xue: sales13 at olansi dot com