News item | 14-03-2022 | 11:00
The air in the Netherlands is getting cleaner. In 2030 we will achieve 47% to 52% less damage to health through cleaner air. This is apparent from the progress report of the Clean Air Agreement that State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen sent to the House of Representatives. An important conclusion of RIVM is that with the Clean Air Agreement we are on track to improve air quality.
State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen (Environment): “This progress report shows that we can achieve up to 52% less damage to health by 2030. I think we can be proud of that, but it will depend on the actual realization of many plans. I will continue to work for that, because clean air is literally of vital importance. As a result, people live longer and in better health.”
Less emissions
RIVM has now calculated the plans for cleaner air of municipalities, provinces and the government for the first time. Per municipality you can www.rivm.nl/lucht/sla We can examine how clean the air is now and how clean it will be in the future thanks to the measures from the Clean Air Agreement. In concrete terms, this concerns a reduction in emissions of particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide from road traffic, mobile equipment, agriculture, inland shipping, industry and households. Examples of measures that prevent emissions are cleaner cars, electrical (construction) machines, shore power for ships and stricter regulations for industrial emissions. At the kick-off in 2020, 46 parties took part. At the end of 2021, the counter stood at 100.
47% – 52% health gain
According to the currently calculated plans, we will achieve a 47% health gain by 2030, but not all measures could be included yet because things need to be worked out more concretely. RIVM estimates that with the climate and nitrogen plans, among other things, we will achieve a 52% health gain in 2030. The measures that are still missing will be added to the progress measurement in 2023. This is the case, for example, for part of the climate policy, the nitrogen approach, the coalition agreement and the Fit-for-55 package. The most profit can be achieved through cleaner road traffic.
New WHO recommended limits
The Clean Air Agreement was drawn up on the basis of the 2005 guideline values of the World Health Organization (WHO) for air quality. According to the progress measurement, these will be achieved almost everywhere in the Netherlands by 2030, except for a number of densely populated or industrial places. There is a separate area-oriented approach for this. In September 2021, the WHO issued new recommended exposure limits. The RIVM indicates that these lower values will not yet be achieved in large areas by 2030† This is still a challenge, especially for particulate matter. In order to gain a better understanding of the feasibility of the new WHO recommended values, RIVM will map out before the summer which additional measures would be needed to comply with the latest WHO values throughout the Netherlands by 2030.
Neighboring countries
Air pollution does not respect national borders. A lot of polluting air from abroad enters our country, but the bottom line is that the Netherlands exports more pollution than it enters. The Netherlands is committed to an ambitious European air policy in which health comes first. Thanks to the Clean Air Agreement, the Netherlands works more closely with our neighbors Belgium and Luxembourg. We are also jointly committed to the same ambitious goals in European negotiations for new air policy. The Netherlands is mainly concerned with preventing emissions through stricter rules, for example for large steel producers such as Tata Steel, without pricing ourselves out of the market. All EU member states must adhere to this new air policy.