The World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a new report in early November warning that current EU policies to reduce the impacts of ozone pollution on human health are not sufficient.

Recent epidemiological studies have strengthened the evidence that daily exposure to ozone increases mortality and the occurrence of respiratory diseases, the report says.

Existing measures will only reduce premature mortality in Europe by some 600 cases per year, down from 21,000, between 2000 and 2020. Implementing ambitious climate policies could achieve "markedly larger" reductions of around 40 per cent, the authors of the report say. The merits of joining up air and climate policies have been debated for some time now.

Emissions of ozone’s main precursors, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), are declining in Europe and are expected to continue this trend. However, this is counteracted by a global increase in background ozone levels from non-EU countries lacking stringent emissions measures.