Air Quality Directive Revision
Emelia Lute
In October 2022, the EU Commission proposed a revision of the air quality Directives with more ambitious targets for 2030, better aligned with the World Health Organization guidelines, to achieve the zero-pollution objective by 2050 in line with the Zero Pollution Action Plan.
The revised Ambient Air Quality Directives set new standards (limit and target values, alert and information thresholds, long-term objectives, and others...) that are more stringent than in the previous text and more adapted to the human health and environment protection levels that should be attained by the 1 January 2030. The new regulations provide basic principles of the relevant scientific framework needed for the implementation of monitoring tools that provide accurate, reliable, and comparable information about air quality in the Member States.
It is noteworthy that the new Directive accounts for the most recent developments in air pollution sciences, especially in atmospheric chemistry modelling. Thus, modelling applications are explicitly acknowledged as valuable means to support the interpretation of the geographical distribution and the assessment of air pollutant concentrations, for analysing the main drivers of air pollution episodes (emission sources, geographical and meteorological situations, transboundary fluxes), and for the optimisation of monitoring networks. In this context, the role of CAMS is mentioned explicitly in the text for the provision of relevant tools and expertise:
The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, implemented by ECMWF on behalf of the European Commission provides global and European air quality and atmospheric composition forecasts and analysis data, based on state-of-the-art models.
The global atmospheric composition forecasts and analyses are initialised based on satellite observations and computed with the ECMWF Earth-system model Integrated Forecasting System. The European air quality ensemble is composed of eleven European models, delivering European air quality forecasts daily for the following 4 days.
Thanks to the hard work of staff across dozens of federal agencies and input from thousands of members of the public, these updated standards will help create more useful, accurate, and up to date federal data on race and ethnicity. These revisions will enhance our ability to compare information and data across federal agencies, and also to understand how well federal programs serve a diverse America.
In June 2022, OMB convened the Interagency Technical Working Group on Race and Ethnicity Standards (Working Group) to develop recommendations for improving the quality and usefulness of federal race and ethnicity data.
The Working Group, consisting of federal government career staff representing 35 agencies, relied heavily on research conducted over the last decade, including new research and testing of potential alternatives by several federal agencies. The Working Group also relied on robust public input, including:
In addition, this review process showed that racial and ethnic identities, concepts, and data needs continue to evolve. To improve the ability of Directive No. 15 to adapt and better meet those needs, OMB is establishing an Interagency Committee on Race and Ethnicity Statistical Standards, convened by the Office of the U.S. Chief Statistician, that will maintain and carry out a government-wide research agenda and undertake regular reviews of Directive No. 15. Some areas of interest identified in the technical expert research, as well as by stakeholders and engaged members of the public, lacked sufficient data to determine the effects of potential changes. Those areas of interest have now been identified as a top priority for additional research and data development in advance of future reviews. The updated standards identify several key research topics for the Interagency Committee to focus on initially. For more information on these research topics and the planned schedule for future reviews, see the updated Directive No. 15.
This monumental effort was informed by the perspectives of staff across federal agencies and the members of the public who took the time to submit written comments, provide views at one of the virtual town halls, meet with the Working Group, and participate in our Tribal consultation. We are committed to maintaining a collaborative approach as we work to implement these new revisions.
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Chairs of the Workshop: Zorana J Andersen and Barbara Hoffmann, European Respiratory Society (ERS) Hanna Boogaard, Health Effects Institute (HEI) and International Society of Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE) Europe.
Chairs: Michal Krzyzanowski (Imperial College London) and Ebba Malmqvist (Lund University)
The session gives an overview of the recently proposed revisions of the EU AAQD, and other concurrent European air quality and climate actions, against the backdrop of the European Green Deal. The proposal will set new limit values that are aligned more closely with the 2021 WHO Air Quality Guidelines, and is currently considered by the European Parliament and the Council. The session also gives overview of the latest data on air pollution levels, estimates of related health buden in Europe, and prospects for 2030 and beyond.
The session will review the latest science on ambient air pollution and health from Europe and beyond as a essential reference for evaluating the proposed AAQD. It will present findings from recent key studies on air pollution and an array of adverse health effects including asthma, cardiovascular diseases, lung cancer, and dementia. Those studies report associations with health effects at levels below current and proposed EU limit values, pointing to the need for even more ambitious standards.
In 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) published new air quality guidelines following a systematic review of the latest scientific evidence demonstrating how air pollution damages human health. The European Union (EU) has also set standards for key air pollutants in the ambient air quality directives. In the European Green Deal, the European Commission committed to further improving air quality and to aligning EU air quality standards more closely with the WHO recommendations. This commitment was echoed in the zero pollution action plan, which set a vision for 2050 to reduce air, water and soil pollution to levels no longer considered harmful to health and natural ecosystems. In addition, the zero pollution action plan introduced targets for 2030, two of which focus on air and aim to:
The above measures are aligned with other legislative proposals, such as the revision of the Industrial Emissions Directive and recent proposals on Euro 7 emission standards for road vehicles, which will support the achievement of stricter air quality standards.
This report is based on a range of background material produced by the European Topic Centre on human health and the environment (ETC/HE). References and links to online reports are provided in each chapter.
To meet those goals, it is vital that the Fit for 55 climate package delivers in many areas, including the revision of the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD), especially in preparation for the Euro 7/VII emission standards.
The European Commission will publish proposals for Euro 7/VII pollutant emission standards in July 2022, so it is right to request that in parallel fuel quality is improved to enable the system of engine, exhaust aftertreatment and fuel to work in harmony.
The limited fuel parameters in the FQD for petrol and diesel have not been updated since 2009. The corresponding CEN standards have, in several respects, not been updated quickly enough and, for some key parameters, allow too wide fuel blending flexibility. The consequence is that fleet surveillance for pollutant emissions by Real Driving Emissions (RDE) testing, which requires the use of market fuels, can be conducted in different countries with different fuel quality.
The FQD should not be ignored in Fit for 55 as it can play a major role in delivering new fuels to help modern engines deliver lower pollutant emissions and better engine efficiency (hence lower CO2). However, we should not forget that better fuel quality also delivers air quality benefits from the older fleet. The FQD needs updating now to reflect modern fuel production capability and to ensure consistent EU-wide fuel quality for the benefit of customers.
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SUMMARY: By this Notice, OMB is announcing its decision concerning the revision of Statistical Policy Directive No. 15, Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting. OMB is accepting the recommendations of the Interagency Committee for the Review of the Racial and Ethnic Standards with the following two modifications: (1) the Asian or Pacific Islander category will be separated into two categories -- "Asian" and "Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander," and (2) the term "Hispanic" will be changed to "Hispanic or Latino."
The revised standards will have five minimum categories for data on race: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and White. There will be two categories for data on ethnicity: "Hispanic or Latino" and "Not Hispanic or Latino."
The Supplementary Information in this Notice provides background information on the standards (Section A); a summary of the comprehensive review process that began in July 1993 (Section B); a brief synopsis of the public comments OMB received on the recommendations for changes to the standards in response to the July 9, 1997, Federal Register Notice (Section C); OMB's decisions on the specific recommendations of the Interagency Committee (Section D); and information on the work that is underway on tabulation issues associated with the reporting of multiple race responses (Section E).