EC “stepping up enforcement” on air pollution
The European Commission (EC) has announced that it is “stepping up” its enforcement against member states who have breached agreed European Union (EU) rules on air pollution limits and type approval for cars.
In a statement issued today (17 May), the EC said that it is referring France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Romania and the United Kingdom to the Court of Justice of the EU for failing to respect agreed air quality limit values and for “failing to take appropriate measures to keep exceedance periods as short as possible”. The EC is also issuing additional letters of formal notice to Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the UK on the grounds that they have disregarded EU vehicle type approval rules.
The EC said it is taking action to “address the significant and persistent exceedances of limit values for two key pollutants with health impacts: nitrogen dioxide, which is mostly a result of road traffic and industry, and particulate matter, which is mainly present in emissions from industry, domestic heating, traffic, and agriculture”.
ClientEarth, the environmental group which has taken three successful court cases against the UK government over air pollution regulations, was quick to applaud the EC announcement.
In a statement sent to Post&Parcel, ClientEarth’s CEO James Thornton said: “On top of our three successful cases, today’s legal action from the European Commission is more damning evidence of the mountain the UK government still has to climb to bring air pollution to within legal limits.
“The European Commission’s action, which could end with the UK having to pay fines, should be another strong catalyst for ministers who have failed for almost a decade to take the necessary action.
“The UK needs a new Clean Air Act fit for the 21st Century and targeted action, like scrappage schemes and clean air zones which keep the dirtiest vehicles out of our most polluted towns and cities. We need an overhaul of fiscal incentives to favour cleaner ways of getting around and we need the car industry to contribute financially to help get us out of the mess that it helped create.”
