Health and Environment Alliance | Press Releases: Air Quality

The European Green Deal identifies right areas for action but more urgency needed to meet zero pollution ambition and benefit health

11th December 2019

Today, the European Commission presented the European Green Deal plan that sets out many environmental health issues, where the European Union policies such as climate, air or chemicals, can help deliver a zero pollution objective and better health protection for all. However, to achieve the transformational, systemic change needed to address the magnitude of the challenges the world is facing today, the timeline and scope of the European Green Deal will have to better reflect the evidence which clearly makes the case for more urgent action.

New EU Commission needs to walk the talk on clean air

29th November 2019

The Commission Staff Working Document on the Fitness Check of the Ambient Air Quality Directives, published today, makes it abundantly clear that it is necessary and beneficial to have European air quality standards. At the same time, the assessment points out that standards need to be implemented and applied rigorously, and that the current standards are not fully based on the latest science and World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.

Citizen science air quality monitoring in and around Parisian schools confirms the need to cut air pollution from transport to protect health

18th September 2019

Brussels/Paris, 18 September 2019 - A citizens’ science monitoring project at six nurseries and primary schools in the centre of Paris found nitrogen dioxide (NO2) outside and inside all classrooms…

Particulate air pollution found in and around classrooms in Sofia underlines urgency to act for clean air

17th September 2019

Brussels/Sofia, 17 September 2019 - The quality of air inside and outside primary schools in Europe is failing to protect children’s health and ensure optimal learning, shows a new Health…

Berlin citizen science monitoring shows outdoor air pollution travels indoors to classrooms

17th September 2019

Brussels/Berlin, 16 September 2019 - Traffic pollution urgently has to be further tackled in Berlin shows a new report entitled “Healthy Air, Healthier Children” by the Health & Environment Alliance…

Turkey’s health professional react to UN’s Clean Air Initiative: Turkey must align climate change and air pollution policies

2nd August 2019

Citizen science investigation highlights indoor air quality dimension in air quality and climate efforts

19th June 2019

Brussels, 19 June 2019 - Air quality inside and outside of primary schools across Europe must be improved in order to protect children’s health and ensure optimal learning, shows a…

Citizen science monitoring of air quality in and around Madrid schools confirms the need to cut air pollution from transport

18th June 2019

Brussels/Madrid, 18 June 2019 - The quality of air inside and outside primary schools in Europe is failing to protect children’s health and ensure optimal learning, shows a new Health…

Children at risk of day-long exposure to polluted air inside and outside London classrooms

18th June 2019

The air quality inside - as well as outside - primary schools across Europe must be improved to protect children’s health and ensure optimal learning, finds a new Health & Environment Alliance (HEAL) study entitled “Healthy Air, Healthier Children”.

Health and Environment Alliance zu Gesundheitsauswirkungen von Luftverschmutzung

23rd January 2019

Die Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) vertritt 70 Mitgliedsorganisationen auf internationaler, europäischer, nationaler und lokaler Ebene, unter anderem Gruppen von Gesundheitsfachkräften, gemeinnützige Krankenversicherer, Patienten-, Bürger-, Frauen-, Jugendorganisationen und UmweltexpertInnen. Wir…

EU Court of Auditors: EU citizens’ health is still not sufficiently protected from air pollution

26th September 2018

A new report from the European Court of Auditors published on Tuesday warns that EU citizens’ health is still not sufficiently protected from air pollution. HEAL, together with four other organisation has published a position paper on the first ten years of the EU Ambient Air Quality Directive .

Unmask my City: Global health professionals initiative for clean air

26th August 2018

The Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) is calling on city authorities to clean up the air in Europe and meet the WHO’s air quality guidelines as part of the “Unmask…

Health groups call for phasing out of diesel cars as a public health imperative

27th June 2018

Dieselgate has put the high health impacts from polluting diesel cars into the public and policy-makers’ spotlight. On the occasion of a high-level debate in the European Parliament on the…

Doctors and patient groups launch Unmask My City initiative to clean up Sofia’s air

31st May 2018

A coalition of nine doctor and health organisations1 has today joined the global Unmask My City initiative, calling for greater urgency in achieving clean air in Sofia. The Bulgarian capital…

EU Commission refers 6 countries to EU court for failure to keep EU air quality standards

17th May 2018

European Commissioner Vella has referred 6 out of 9 countries to the European Court of Justice for failure to keep EU air quality standards. The 6 countries that will be…

Health professionals demand clean air for Tuzla and Lukavac in Bosnia

26th February 2018

Doctors and health groups have issued an urgent call to improve air quality in Tuzla and Lukavac (Bosnia and Herzegovina), joining the global Unmask My City campaign for clean air, and inviting doctors region wide to join.

EU Court of Justice ruling on air quality in Poland

22nd February 2018

The European Court of Justice today ruled that Poland has infringed EU law on ambient air quality.

Health community demands new urgency on air pollution

13th February 2018

At a Brussels briefing today, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) have called upon policy-makers in the EU and wider European Region to take decisive action to clean up the air for the benefit of citizens.

HEAL reaction to today’s air quality summit

30th January 2018

An air quality summit between Environment Commissioner Vella and nine EU environment ministers whose countries are in breach of EU air quality standards ended with Commissioner Vella declaring ‘it doesn’t get bigger than the loss of life due to air pollution’.

New rules hasten end for Europe’s dirtiest power plants

31st July 2017

Europe’s most polluting power plants, including many large coal-fired power stations, will be forced to clean up or close down thanks to new EU rules adopted today.