The good news in this story about the air we breathe is that for the first time since the concentration limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) – a harmful pollutant – came into force in 2010, all Spanish cities have met those limits. The same happened with PM₂,₅ and PM₁₀ particles. It has taken the country thirteen years to comply with that air quality directive. The bad news is that these limits have now become “obsolete”, as the organization Ecologistas en Acción points out. Because the European institutions have already committed to tightening them with a view to 2030 and following warnings from the World Health Organization (WHO). If the new European limits are already in force, the non-compliance of Spanish cities would be massive.
Ecologists in Action has also warned this Wednesday of the lack of measures to reduce the concentration in the air of the main pollutants, responsible for 21,000 deaths in Spain in 2021—13 times more than traffic accidents—according to the European Agency. of Environment.
A clear example of the lack of action is the implementation of low-emission zones, which, although they are not a panacea, are designed to improve air quality. All cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants should have implemented them on January 1, 2023. But “only about twenty have formally complied with this legal obligation, despite the abundant public funds they are receiving for it,” says Ecologistas en Acción in your report Air quality in the Spanish State during 2023, which he presented this Wednesday. In addition, the cities “have also not provided themselves with protocols for action against episodes of poor air quality,” adds the organization.
Since 2005, Ecologistas en Acción has been producing these monitoring reports, which are based on the data provided by the official measurement stations spread throughout the country (currently, 785). European standards establish limits for several pollutants, but the main ones are nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), particles – those less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM₂,₅) and those less than 10 microns (PM₁₀) – and ozone (O₃).
The one that has given the most headaches to state, regional and municipal authorities in Spain has been nitrogen dioxide, closely linked to traffic in cities. The country has already been condemned by the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) for repeatedly failing to comply with annual values for NO₂ for more than a decade in Madrid and the Barcelona metropolitan area. That file is still open and the European Commission could send Spain back to the CJEU to be sanctioned. Although if respect for the current thresholds is maintained, that risk recedes.
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According to data collected by Ecologistas en Acción, NO₂ levels were reduced by 25% in 2023 compared to the average concentrations of the period between 2012 and 2019. And the experts of this organization attribute this to “the renovation and lower dieselization of the park.” circulation of vehicles.” In the case of particles, the report points to the implementation of renewables in the country, which in 2023 provided half of the electricity consumed, “limiting emissions from gas and fuel oil thermal plants.” In addition, wind and solar have been decisive in closing coal plants.
But, again, experts from this NGO warn that the country is far from the new, toughened European limits, which will come into force in 2030 and for which cities must begin to prepare now due to how strict they are. The data from this NGO indicates that the urban areas of A Coruña, Algeciras, Barcelona, Bilbao, Cartagena, Ceuta, Córdoba, Donostia, Gijón, Girona, Granada, Madrid, Málaga, Murcia, Oviedo, Palma, Pamplona, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Santander, Seville, Talavera de la Reina, Valencia, Valladolid, Vigo and Zaragoza exceeded the new limit approved by the European Parliament, which is pending publication in the official EU bulletin. If all the pollutants analyzed are taken as a reference, two thirds of the Spanish population (33 million) breathed polluted air above these future legal limits last year.
But, in addition, these limits are even above the latest recommendations from the WHO, which after analyzing all the scientific literature in September 2021 approved new safety thresholds. If these reference values are taken, explains Ecologistas en Acción, the polluted air affected the entire Spanish population and 454,000 square kilometers of surface in 2023, 90% of the national territory.
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