Air quality

At the start of CONCAWE’s life in 1963, air quality was seen mainly as a ‘local air’ issue and the bulk of legislation in force was based on the prevention of nuisance. How things have changed!

Now we have legislation on air-related issues that are regional, continental and even global, such as ozone level depletion and climate change. In Europe, the first EEC Action Programme started in 1973, ten years after CONCAWE’s inception.

This was followed in 1987 by the Single European Act which confirmed the Community’s competence for the environment. In 1993, the European Commission introduced its Fifth Action Programme on the Environment—‘Towards Sustainability’, and over the past ten years the pace has been maintained.