Air

The European Parliament should demand tougher EU rules on air pollution when it adopts a resolution on the matter next week, environmental campaign groups and medical associations have told MEPs.

The European Environmental Bureau has refused to participate in a meeting on revising EU industrial emissions guidance today, in protest at an alleged lack of transparency.

Air pollution levels in most German cities fell markedly last year, even without including the impact of coronavirus lockdowns, in a sign that ‘environmental policy works’, the federal government has said.

The lack of controls on greenhouse gas emissions in EU rules on pollution from industry have left it unfit to support the bloc’s climate goals, according to a coalition of environmental NGOs.

In other news this week: NGOs set out tests for a Green Deal-compatible farming policy, a study says cutting air pollution could prevent 50,000 deaths in European cities, while Germany’s environment agency makes REACH substitution recommendations.