Industrial Pollution & Chemicals

Our Work

The EU has a long history of policies that have sought to improve Europe’s air quality and to protect the people, ecosystems and buildings affected by air pollutants. Tackling air pollution requires action in a number of areas, including industrial pollution control and reducing transport emissions. It also requires effective enforcement of air quality standards. IEEP has engaged with the EU’s air quality agenda for many years.

This has included the adoption of Directives on individual air pollutants, which were consolidated in the wide-ranging Air Quality Framework Directive which sets compulsory limit values for some pollutants and non-binding values (e.g. ‘alert levels’) for others, along with a comprehensive monitoring and information programme.

Regarding work in this area please contact: Andrew Farmer.

Latest in Air Quality

  • The Manual: Chapter 2 - Air quality

    This is a chapter of IEEP’s Manual of European Environmental Policy. This chapter focuses on EU air quality policy. The policy field is extensive and contains many directives that impose standards, provisions and developments of air quality management and regulation.

  • Assessment of the 6th Environment Action Programme

    This report presents the results of an independent evaluation of the 6th Environment Action Programme (6EAP). The overall objective of this evaluation was to provide an in-depth assessment of the achievements of the 6EAP since its adoption in 2002 to the end of 2010.