European Environment Agency highlights which cities in Europe have the best air quality
Every year, the European Environment Agency (EEA) assesses the air quality in nearly 340 European cities on the basis of the average concentration of fine particulate matter, also known as PM2.5.
Collected at nearly 400 monitoring stations in all EU Member States, this data ranks European cities from the cleanest to the most polluted over two calendar years.
The data viewer used by the EEA classifies air quality into four categories.
1. The first category is "good air quality", where the level of fine particulate matter is below the annual World Health Organisation (WHO) value of 10 micrograms per cubic metre of air (μg/m3).
2. The second category, "moderate air quality", refers to levels between 10 and less than 15 μg/m3 .
3. The third category, "poor air quality", refers to cities with levels of fine particulate matter between 15 and less than 25 5 μg/m3.
4. The last category of "very poor air quality" consists of cities with levels at or above the EU limit of 25 μg/m3 .
Whereas in the previous report, for the period 2019-2020, the cleanest cities were Umeå (Sweden), Tempere (Finland) and Funchal (Portugal), the Portuguese city of Faro makes its appearance in this Top 3, to the detriment of Tampere, which loses some places in the ranking, while the cities of Umeå and Funchal remain among the three European cities with the best air quality.
In contrast, the cities of Nowy Sacz (Poland), Cremona and Padua (Italy) are among the worst performers in the ranking, placing them among the cities with the worst air quality.
This latest report highlights that only 11 European cities have air quality considered satisfactory by the European Environment Agency, i.e. a level of fine particulate matter concentration below the guidelines set by the WHO.
Furthermore, this ranking of the number of highly polluted cities varies depending on whether the EU guideline (threshold of 25 μg/m3) or the WHO guideline (threshold of 10 μg/m3) is used. If the EU standard is taken into account, only three cities would be considered truly polluted, and these would simply be the first three.
On the other hand, it should be noted that this classification only includes 340 cities and that some cities are not represented in this classification, for two main reasons. The first reason is that some cities are not included in the database of cities established by the European Commission's Urban Audit. The second reason is that some cities do not have urban air quality monitoring stations.
In addition, this study and quantitative assessment of the level of greenhouse gas emissions produced by European cities is part of the National Emission Reduction Commitments (NEC) Directive, which aims to require EU Member States to reduce their emissions of five air pollutants that have particularly harmful consequences for health. These five pollutants are nitrogen oxides, non-methane volatile organic compounds, ammonia, sulphur dioxide and PM2.5.
The report shows a mixed picture, with only 13 Member States meeting their emission reduction commitments for each of the five air pollutants, while 14 others have failed to do so.
The annual report on the EU emissions inventory between 1990 and 2020, published this year by the EEA, also highlights the continuing decline in emissions of six air pollutants (the first five mentioned above, plus carbon monoxide). The EEA, in its latest air quality report, urges the EU and cities in Member States with particularly poor air quality to continue their policy efforts to clean up Europe's air. EEA executive director Hans Brynicnck said last year that "although air quality has improved markedly in recent years, air pollution in many European cities remains too high".