Debate: Implementation of the Ambient Air Quality Directives
Date: WEDNESDAY, 24 MARCH 2021
Speaker: Virginijus Sinkevičius
Language: EN

Thank you for recalling the various challenges involved. I can assure you that our ambition to protect the health of citizens will not be limited by the failures of the past. We can do better, and we can do it with concerted action across sectors and across policies, with everyone on board: policymakers, local authorities, citizens, businesses, entrepreneurs, scientists and researchers. Let me now briefly address some of the points you raised in today’s debate.  On the level of ambition of targets, efforts to implement the current targets are still needed. However, it is also clear that we need to better address the specific pollutants of concern, with more ambition. These considerations will be at the core of the impact assessment that will underpin the revision of EU air quality standards to align them more closely with WHO recommendations. On the alignment with WHO recommendations, let me reiterate that before we propose any legislative change, we will conduct a proper impact assessment which will also look at the feasibility of different scenarios, of aligning more closely to WHO recommendations. In this context we will also consider including in the directives an explicit mechanism for adjusting air quality standards to technical and scientific progress.  On transport, in our sustainable and smart mobility strategy from last December, we set concrete milestones for the deployment of zero—emission vehicles by 2030, when we will have at least 30 million zero—emission cars and 80 000 zero—emission lorries in operation.  By 2050, nearly all cars, vans and buses, as well as new heavy duty vehicles, will be zero emission, and we will propose in June’s Fit for 55 package more stringent CO2 emission standards for cars and vans to ensure a clear pathway towards zero—emission mobility. On funding, Member States have already successfully used EU funding under different programmes to address the air quality challenge. In the current programming period, EUR 1.8 billion has been directly allocated to support air quality measures.  For the 2021–2027 period, the Commission has proposed, within the cohesion policy fund, a greener and low—carbon Europe. One of the policy objectives includes reducing air pollution as a specific objective. It is now, of course, for Member States to prioritise objectives. On air quality monitoring, we are well aware of the need for reliable, objective and comparable information on air quality to inform our decisions. Most of what we need is already in place. Based on common criteria defined by the Ambient Air Quality Directive, we have an air quality monitoring network with more than 4 000 monitoring stations across the EU.  The extensive network can be considered a success in itself, but we will of course continue to improve and remediate specific shortcomings where identified to ensure that it continues to supply the solid framework our policy requires.  Dear President, honourable Members, air quality legislation is extremely important, but it will never be enough to solve the clean air challenge. We need to better mainstream air quality objectives as well.  Whenever we deal with transport, energy, industry, agriculture or urban development at whatever our level of policy—making responsibility, we have to learn to ask ourselves a key question – what does action in this sector mean for clean air? What can we do better? With this, let me conclude by thanking the rapporteur, Mr Lopez, and all Members, for today’s exchange and for their work on this important file.