Project Potential Impact and European added value

Community societal objectives

The EU strategy on sustainable development (SD) (CEC 2001)  underpins all environmental policies (COM(2001)264 final). SD principles have implications for European air quality limit values, risk and exposure to pollutants, urbanisation and changes in demography and other social patterns that affect pollution or are affected by it.  CAIR4HEALTH will assess and review the existing information to identify remaining gaps in knowledge to achieve reduced health impact on European citizens in cities from air pollutants resulting from sources such as traffic. Coupled with a global dissemination strategy CAIR4HEALTH will act as an information gateway for the public and other interested stakeholders.

Improvement in Quality of Life and Health of European Citizens

As stated above, air pollution has a major impact on human health, particularly the most vulnerable groups in societies (very young and old) and research has shown that poor air quality can cause premature death and reduce life expectancy. Both NOx and particles (PM10 and PM2.5) are primarily emitted from road transport, for example in London, about 60% of NOx emissions and 70% of PM10 are from vehicles and both pollutants are known to affect airways and lungs and trigger existing diseases such as asthma and bronchitis (COMEAP, 2000, GLA, 2002). As traffic levels continue to increase, the levels of pollutants also increase causing greater health risks and studies have shown that a 10µg/m3 increase in PM10 concentration (24h average) is associated with a 0.6% increase in cardiovascular admissions (COMEAP, 2001).
This project aims to examine and interpret the results of a range of major projects to identify gaps in knowledge required to implement measures that will reduce levels of health related air pollutants from road transport and other urban sources. An obvious benefit will be that the public will be exposed to lower levels over the long term and from short-term exceedances (eg local air pollution episodes). For example, the assessment methodologies from projects such as OSCAR, FUMAPEX, AIR4EU and ISHTAR will be assessed if they can be implemented in different parts of Europe (eg in the new member states) and how they will assist in minimising associated health impact from air pollutants in cities. Furthermore, their transferability to different geographical regions and applications will be reviewed. It will be important to assess if these approaches can not only provide a capability for estimating exceedances but also in estimating personal and population exposure to pollutants. It has been estimated that through traffic management and technological initiatives, there is the potential to reduce NOx emissions by up to 67% and PM10 emissions by up to 70% below 1996 levels by 2010 near busy urban locations (DETR, 1998). The implications of such developments for health will need to be examined.

European added value

With common problems occurring throughout Europe, the need for agreed and transferable methods is even more urgent. Individual nations have tended to adopt solutions that often address only their specific problems, even though despite cultural and demographic differences, the underlying causes and mechanisms are similar. It is evident from End Users within the CLEAR Cluster that they prefer common and transferable approaches. CAIR4HEALTH will identify what additional research know-how would be needed to improve or to develop new integrated systems of monitoring and assessment in line with the aims of E&HAP which can also be applied to different cities across Europe.  These will include:

• Assessment of hotspots within urban areas
• Implementation of integrated monitoring networks for exposure assessment and meeting EU Air Quality Limit values
• Measurement methods for key pollutants including those highlighted in E&HAP
• What additional data is required for the health assessment of critical/susceptible groups?
• Personal exposure measurements for critical groups
• Treatment of air pollution data for health research and assessment (such as epidemiological studies)
• Which technologies could be employed for air quality and health research in line with the aims of ETAP?
• What further critical analysis would be required of main traffic policies in European cities and impacts on journeys/emissions in line with the goals of TSU

The involvement of Experts from EU25+3 and other countries will bring in additional information and expertise into CAIR4HEALTH.