Air Quality
Ensuring that the air we breathe is of good quality is an essential element of an effective system for protecting human health and the environment. European environmental policymakers have been working to improve air quality since the early 1970s, by setting in place measures to curb emissions from industrial operations, motor vehicles and other sources of air pollutants, such as paints and solvents. Milieu’s experts have supported many of these efforts. Our track record includes a wide range of projects supporting improvement of air quality, from multi-country legal studies to hands-on technical assistance to support environmental authorities in third countries to strengthen air quality management systems.
Projects Milieu has worked on in the area of air quality include:
Conformity checking of measures of Member States to transpose directives in the sector of the environment, DG Environment, since 2003: EU air quality legislation covered includes the Air Quality Framework Directive (96/62/EEC) and its daughter Directives, the Fuel Quality Directives (1998/70/EC on quality of petrol and diesel fuels; 1999/31 on sulphur in fuels), the Directives on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (2008/1/EC) and Large Combustion Plants (2001/80/EC), and the Non-Road Mobile Machinery Directive (1997/98/EC).
Provisions on penalties related to legislation on industrial installations, DG Environment, 2010-2011: Milieu is currently reviewing the enforcement system and applicable sanctions for breaches of legislation on industrial emissions in all Member States, to identify the key factors/areas influencing the effectiveness of enforcement mechanisms, in particular sanctions. More info...
Assessment of the application of Community legislation to burning of rendered animal fat, DG Environment, 2006 (with Ecolas): Analysis of how Member States were applying the Waste Incineration Directive to tallow burning and recommendations aimed at better regulation.
Study on the assessment of the effectiveness of European air quality policies and measures, DG Environment, 2004 (with NERI & CCAP): Ex-post evaluation of 25 years of EU air quality policies & legislative measures, including comparative analysis with US air quality policies.
Study on Outline of the Impacts of the UNECE protocol on pollutant release and transfer registers on EU legislation, DG Environment, 2003: The study identified the changes required in EU legislation to implement the UNECE Protocol and included preparation of the necessary draft legislation.
Strengthening the Capacity of Local and Regional Environmental Authorities to Implement the Environmental Acquis (Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania & Turkey), EuropeAid, 2006-2008: The project aimed to achieve models for replication of good environmental administration at the local and regional level in the beneficiary countries. A core component of the project was training and capacity building to local and regional authorities in each country in order to effectively develop integrated approaches to implement the environmental acquis.
Preparation of technical assistance projects to build capacity for approximation with the EU environmental requirements. Danish EPA, 1997-2002: Milieu drafted dozens of Terms of Reference for projects to support CEE and EECCA countries to harmonise with EU environmental laws, including two on compliance with EU air quality framework requirements (Latvia; Romania) and five on integrated permitting regulations under the IPPC Directive (Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria).
