- 2025-07-04 “If we look at the situation, um, and the modelling for emission levels in 2025 and at whether member states are on a linear reduction trajectory to reach their more ambitious reduction commitments for 2030, only eight member states are on course to reduce all five pollutants to the extent that is required. So swift action must be taken by the remaining member states. And again, that is particularly so for ammonia. Um, but um, we are in a situation there where 17 member states are not on a linear reduction trajectory in 2025 for ammonia emissions. The analysis shows a rather worrying compliance prospect for ammonia that previous outlooks already highlighted. So this is not a new observation, but this is one that unfortunately is confirmed when it comes to comparison between the third outlook and this one. On other pollutants, there's been an increase in the number of countries that are expected not to meet the PM 2.5 emission reduction commitments, and this can be explained by increases in estimated emissions from solid fuel combustion, mainly biomass and coal, in the residential sector. And that is linked to new information that is integrated in the gains model. Um, on the structure of installations, wood and coal consumptions and emission factors. So that is just to give you, um, a um, an overall perspective on that. Moving on to the next slide. This is about the prospect of achieving the zero pollution target of reducing health impacts of air pollution by 20 by 55%.”
Air quality policy · Use of fertilisers
- 2025-07-04 “We sent reasoned opinions to nine member states and an additional letter formal notice to three. So this is the situation as it stands, which you can see shows that we show resolve when it comes to enforcement on air emissions, when there um, when there is evidence that the member states are lagging. So I hope that gives a sense of reassurance about how serious the commission is when it comes to enforcement. And that was just for air emissions under the NEC. We have a number of other enforcement action that relates to the Ambient Air Quality Directive, and that will continue to be so as long as this is justified. There were several questions, including from the greens and the left about and sad indeed as well about ammonia when it comes to ammonia. Member States need to take additional measures to limit to limit their emissions, and those measures would need to tackle emissions from cattle manure that was mentioned, in particular spreading manure on fields, but also measures to mitigate emissions from using mineral fertilizers and from breeding pigs and poultry. Those measures would significantly increase the prospect of meeting the next directive's ammonia emission reduction commitments, and it is also clear that full implementation of the Nature Restoration Regulation has potential to result in additional progress made on ecosystems and in improving overall ecosystem resilience will also contribute.”
Air quality policy · Use of fertilisers · Nature protection and restoration in the EU
- 2025-07-04 “There is no such requirement to develop any measures in relation to low emission zones, if that is not the choice of the authorities. Um, that that are in charge of the action. And if they consider that other measures are more suitable to deliver the required progress. And lastly, there was a question from Sioned about action at city level. And I wanted to mention in this regard that we've developed a whole array of support measures, in particular through the Green City Accord, which covers five areas of action, one of which being clean air and which enables the over 100 cities that are involved in the accord to fasten the pace of action to deliver progress for clean air. And this is certainly something that we intend to support further through ancillary initiatives, such as the cities mission that has a focus on reducing CO2 emissions, but significant co-benefits for Clean Air, or our flagship European Green Capitals initiative and awards, which also recognize the top performance of cities in Europe and enable them to show pioneering examples that can be emulated in other cities. So I hope that with this, I've replied to all the questions that were put to the commission, and I look forward to further interactions with honourable members if there's a need to go further into some of the topics. Thank you very much. ***Ecodesign for Sustainable Products and Energy Labelling Working Plan 2025-2030 (Presentation by the Commission, Exchange of views)”
Air quality policy · EU policy on urban development
- 2025-07-04 “The first one is to reduce by more than 55% the health impacts of air pollution compared to 2005 figures. And the second one is to reduce by 25% the EU ecosystem areas where air pollution threatens biodiversity. Also compared to 2005 figures. And finally, and that is not on this slide. The fourth Clean Air Outlook provides an updated analysis that will feed into the ongoing evaluation of the NEC directive, which is due to be finalised by the end of 2025. And this is an important element as well. What I wanted to then move on is some Assumptions in terms of the approach that we followed for the cleaner outlook, as well as the methodology that underpins it. So the Cleaner outlook reports have been broadly based on the same but updated methodological approach as the one followed for the preparation of the commission's next proposal back in 2013. And that allows for a comparative perspective. The baseline scenario that I'll come to in a moment reflects development in EU relevant policies, and member states were consulted as part of updating baseline to reflect as fully as possible national data and policies. So this is what we've followed. And of course, the work has been done through the Gains model, which is developed and hosted by the International Institute for Applied Scientific Assessments. I think they stand for Iiasa. As many of you will know them.”
Air quality policy · Industrial emissions directive (IED)
- 2025-07-04 “However, when it comes to emissions of ammonia, over 90% of which are generated by the same sector that is agriculture, the situation remains worryingly flat and we can even see an increase in recent years in some member states. So that is the line that you see at the top of the graph. So this is clearly much less satisfactory an evolution for ammonia as it is than it is for the other four pollutants, and sulfur dioxide being the one for which we've been most successful thus far. What I will do over the next set of slides is to run you quickly through the situation per pollutant, but we will start with sulfur dioxide, so you can see that a significant progress was achieved since 2005. That is reflected in the previous slide. What you can see in the the grade box is the situation for 2030, 2030. And when it comes to the red box, it's the 2050 situation. What we can see there is that we've already made such a significant amount of progress that we are now in a situation where the various scenarios variations are less significantly differing, but we're still in a situation where we can see that some of the scenarios and in particular, um, MTF for 2050 can lead to some further progress. What's interesting to note, and I'll do that for each pollutant, is that the main source of pollution here is industry.”
Air quality policy · Use of fertilisers · Industrial emissions directive (IED)
- 2025-07-04 “Um, and you will see that for the other pollutants the situation is um, more, um, linked to other sectors. And that is to underline that we need to act on all relevant sectors. The situation for PM 2.5 is what you can see on this slide. Again, 2030 in the grade box and 2050 and the red one, um, there. The main source of pollution comes from residential heating. And the situation is that you can see there. I won't go through the details per slide because otherwise that would be too long. It's just to give you an order of magnitude per pollutant. Nox. Um, and the situation there is very much linked to transport. Um, and you can see that the situation there is um, again, reflecting what I said earlier, we've made significant strides over the 2005 to current period with over 30% reduction. And now we're in a situation where the progress is, um, Less variable in the 2030 scenarios, and we can take this further down in a 2050. Scenario analysis. When it comes to novox, the main source is industry, and you can see the situation as it's been outlined in the various scenarios that we've analyzed in the cleaner outlook on this slide. And I'll finish with ammonia underlining what I was saying earlier, that progress has been much less satisfactory over the past period. You can see that you don't actually observe a downward trend for ammonia that is on the same magnitude as what can be observed for some of the other pollutants.”
Road transport environmental policy · Air quality policy · Industrial emissions directive (IED)
- 2025-07-04 “So the outlook for ammonia remains worrying, with the 21 member states that could miss their 2030 emission reduction commitments. As I mentioned in an earlier in an earlier slide. So those member states will need to take additional action, and they will need to make the best possible use of implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy and the opportunities it offers. If we move aside from move away from ammonia and we look at PM 2.5, additional action is also needed to limit emissions from PM 2.5, with eight member states currently projected to miss their 2030 reduction commitments, which is again high. And PM 2.5 is crucial when it comes to health impacts. If we look at the zero pollution targets. As you saw, we are on track for the health related target and we're not on track when it comes to the ecosystem. One so this emphasizes the need to do more to reduce ammonia emissions because it's at the core of the ecosystem performance. All in all, um, what I would conclude with is that more action is needed from member States to reduce the negative health and environmental impacts of air pollution.”
Air quality policy · Use of fertilisers
- 2025-07-04 “And we can even see that in some instances, the situation has been either static or even actually marking some lesser progress in the projections that we make. You can see some significant differences based on the scenarios that are looked into and that has been analyzed in the Clean Air Outlook as well. What I wanted to to do next is to give a perspective on the number of member states that are projected to miss their emission reduction commitments as set in the National. Um, in the in the NEC directive, in the Emission Reduction Commitments Directive. So according to the results of the fourth cleaner outlook, only four member states are on course to achieve in 2030 their emission reduction commitments under current national measures and EU legislation, and in line with the above changes in the policy context. And that is the baseline scenario that I outlined earlier. All other member states will need to take additional measures to fulfill their obligations, which obviously underscores, if you look at the situation for ammonia, that action will be particularly required to reduce ammonia as 2021 member states need to make reductions by 2030. The table shows the member states that are projected to miss their emission reduction commitments by type of pollutant, and these forward looking modelling results confirm the trend observed in the data that is analysed by the IEA that I presented earlier in the trends graph.”
Air quality policy · Use of fertilisers
- 2025-07-04 “This is the main conclusion that one can draw from the Clean Air Outlook, and that is also in line with the Zero Pollution Ambition and the overall Zero Pollution Action Plan. And we published most recently, as well as Zero Pollution Dashboard at more disaggregated level. That also shows, um, those trends. Um, what is also, of course, to be noted is that member states will need to take additional action to meet the more ambitious air quality standards that have just been adopted under the revised Ambient Air Quality Directive. And that action will further reduce the health and ecosystem impacts of air pollution and generate macroeconomic and societal gains as well. So this is to say that action across three dimensions of air pollution will be required. Air emissions, pollutants, and that the NEC directive that we documented here in the Clean Air Outlook. Ambient air quality, that is the implementation of the current and new ambient air quality legislation and continued progress on what we call source legislation. That is, action on the various sectors that are at the source of pollution, such as agriculture for ammonia, but also, as I mentioned earlier, industry for SO2 and VOCs, residential heating for PM 2.5 and transport for NOx. Thank you very much and I will be pleased to hear about your your views, comments and possible questions on the report. And thanks again for scheduling a discussion about it at this afternoon's committee meeting.”
Air quality policy · Climate efforts
- 2025-07-04 “Um, in a perspective of ensuring that the ambition that is required for clean air is maintained. Um, when it comes to the link to the WTO conference in Cartagena, Colombia. It's very good to hear that there was a lot of focus on the example set by the European Union in the revised Ambient Air Quality Directive that was finalised by the Co-legislator in 2024. And I agree that there is a huge amount of responsibility that is linked to this, and this is certainly something that we take seriously as well. And the most serious response we can give is one that guarantees that we implement what has been agreed by the co-legislators. And as you know, the level of ambition is such that more efforts are required. So it will be very interesting to see how this effort is maintained. And that is certainly something that from the commission side, will continue to act upon. Which links back to another question that was put to the commission about enforcement and how the commission is looking at this. You know that we have a high number of infringements in the clean air field. And when it comes to the NEC directive, because this is what we're discussing here today in the first place. Um, we sent in January 2023 a letter of formal notice to 14 member states that did not meet their reduction commitments for the year 2020, and for one of or several pollutants targeted by the NEC directive in November 2023.”
EU Supervision of the Rule of Law · Air quality policy · Climate efforts
- 2025-07-04 “And that is the framework that we have to enhance action on ammonia. The Common Agricultural Policy, as it stands, can provide funding and recommends addressing ammonia in strategic plans. This needs to be taken up because, as things stand, not all member states have picked up on this priority. And even when ammonia is selected, the effectiveness crucially depends on the take up of voluntary action by farmers. So this is something that needs to be accelerated as we go forward. When it comes to, um, the, um, last point that was made by the European People's Party, that is a very important one as well, in underlining that we need to focus not just on regulation, but also on innovation. I can guarantee that this is the approach that we take. The specific issue of driving bans, as it was mentioned, was, uh, referred to. There is no prescription in any of our clean air legislation for such bans to be enacted, in line with the subsidiarity principle. There is full flexibility for member States to consider the most appropriate measures to deliver the required emission reductions, either at national level in the national air pollution control programs, or at local levels in the air quality plans developed under the Ambient Air Quality Directive. So there is full latitude for member States and authorities at lower levels of governance to decide on what is appropriate.”
Use of fertilisers
- 2025-07-04 “But there were broader questions that were also focused on the future of the Common Agricultural Cultural policy in order to achieve better results on ammonia. So when it comes to action on agriculture, first of all, the NEC directive lists in a specific annex a number of measures to reduce ammonia emissions, most of which are voluntary and some of which are compulsory. There is flexibility for member States to promote measures that are suited for their circumstances, in line with subsidiarity and the specific factors they encounter, and the directive also specifically requires member States to ensure that the impacts on small and micro farms are fully taken into account, so that this is tailored action. And it was mentioned earlier that some of the larger livestock farming infrastructure is most responsible for some of the emissions, and obviously action needs to focus on those actors that are most contributing to the emission. The Commission has provided regular support to member states to reduce their ammonia emissions. We've done that through a Farm Advisory Services survey, a web tool that is designed by the JRC to compute ammonia emissions tax workshops for member states, in particular, in September 2024, on reducing emissions from ammonia. So we're working very closely with the sector so that they do what is required more broadly in the recently published vision for agriculture. The commission underscored that farmers are custodians of nature and need to play their role as part of the solution to the protection and resilience of nature, soils, water, air, biodiversity, oceans and climate.”
Agriculture (green) · Air quality policy · Use of fertilisers
- 2025-07-04 “Um, so the situation there, um, shows that on acidification we see the benefits of action on sulfur dioxide because this is the main pollutant at stake there, but less so when it comes to eutrophication, because this is very much linked to progress on the well, on the NOx and ammonia fronts, and that has been less steady in that context. So protected areas under the baseline conditions would continue to be highly affected in 2030 with 60%. We've quantified of Natura 2000 area suffering from eutrophication, which is down from 78% in 2005, but obviously is not sufficiently satisfactory from that perspective on an MT4 scenario analysis. We can see that we could reduce to 59% those Natura 2000 areas suffering from eutrophication and to 49% by 2030. Moving on to the key message from the outlook. Well, the outlook confirmed that air pollution emissions in the EU continue to fall, which is of course, a very positive message and good news for our citizens, for our economy and for our societies. Over the past 20 years, the EU has achieved significant reductions in the emissions of most of the five main pollutants regulated in the next that I've highlighted earlier, unfortunately. Um, we need to make, um, a point about the fact that ammonia remains an exception as emissions have fallen by much less. As I said, with eight member states still failing to meet their emission reduction commitments in 2022, and the projections that you've seen are not sufficiently positive for ammonia, the ongoing evaluation of the NEC directive, which I alluded to at the outset, will shed some light on what has worked well in implementing the directive and what challenges, including in relation to reducing reducing ammonia emissions and other emissions from other pollutants will be looked into.”
Air quality policy · Water pollution