What will European air quality be like in the future?

The community of official stakeholders (Commission personnel, Members of Parliament and Parliament Staff, Member State civil servants, academics, industry specialists and environmentalists alike) are all aware, through their own day-to-day experiences, media reports, and measurement data that ‘we need to do something’ to address current levels of air pollution.

This view that ‘something needs to be done’ has existed for some considerable time. However, the legislators have not been idle, indeed they have been working extremely hard to alter the current situation. As a result, a number of initiatives and pieces of legislation aimed at improving air quality are already in place, and their mitigating impact can be seen now.

In addition, other pieces of legislation have been approved but their effects are not yet apparent. The benefits that will result from these need to be considered before decisions are taken on further legislation to improve air quality.