MEPs claim that a post-Brexit Government should respect a new EU deal designed to halve the number of premature deaths from air pollution.
The draft Directive sets national limits for emissions from five pollutants by 2013, those are sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC), ammonia (NH3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5).
Liberal MEP Catherine Bearder said, "This agreement to cut deadly air pollution will save thousands of lives throughout Europe every year. The UK Government must still commit to meeting these targets no matter what happens in the coming years. Brexit cannot be used as an excuse to water down environmental laws and become the dirty man of Europe again."
The UK was a key player in drafting the law, arguing for less ambition on health improvements, the omission of methane from its remit and smaller cuts in ammonia emissions, despite contrary advice from a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) study. Proposed new pollution curbs would also force the UK to cut emissions of SO2 by 78%, NOx by 62%, and PM2.5 by 46%, all by 2030. The vast majority of such improvements would come from greener transport, with industry and agriculture also shouldering a hefty share of the National Emissions Ceiling Directive's (NEC) costs.
Karmenu Vella, the EU environment commissioner, said, "Air pollution is the number one environmental cause of death in the EU, leading to over 400,000 premature deaths each year. The agreement reached today will cut those impacts by half over the coming years. It will also deliver direct savings to the economy from fewer lost working days and lower health care costs and stimulate investments in new technologies and green growth."
However, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) described the compromise as "weak" and accused EU states of "putting industry and agriculture's interests before peoples health." EEB research predicts almost 10,000 extra premature deaths each year in Britain by 2030 because of the diminution of pollutant caps contained in the commission's original proposal. The group also denounced the inclusion of several "flexibilities" which it said would make the limits "much more difficult to enforce."
Alan Andrews, a lawyer for the ClientEarth environmental consultancy, hailed the agreement as a "crucial step forward", and argued that the negotiations perfectly demonstrated the importance of Britain's membership of the EU...in a future outside the EU, we will lose influence over these kinds of laws, and risk a return to our historical role as the dirty old man of Europe." However, he also echoed the EEB's concerns that the proposals were "nowhere near strong enough." By aiming to reduce the health impacts of air pollution by around 50%, the draft law was 'leaving half of the problem unsolved' he added.
The national emissions ceilings that the Directive sets for each pollutant from 2020 to 2029 are the same as those that EU Member States are already committed to under the Gothenburg Protocol.
The European Parliament is expected to vote on the NEC Directive in autumn.
