Understanding the process of setting air quality limit values and the associated compliance challenge—the ozone study (Concawe Review 30.1)

The European Commission is proposing to revise air quality standards to align them more closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.

This article focuses on O₃, and assesses how current and projected compliance trends will change under the current EU AQLV, as well as under lower limit values and under different emission reduction scenarios. It also highlights the need to follow a two-step process including both risk assessment and risk management when considering further close alignment of the current EU AQLVs for O₃ with the WHO guidelines.