Joint letter to EU environment ministers: Health sector calls for clean air to prevent disease and save lives

Today, HEAL, with seven more health organisations, has sent a letter to EU environment ministers about the EU’s clean air standards (Ambient Air Quality Directives – AAQD).

The organisations, representing the European health sector, including medical doctors, healthcare professionals, patient organisations and health insurance funds, urge the ministers to step up on the Commission’s proposal, to reduce ill-health and health costs swiftly and significantly.

The letter states:

In the coming weeks you will be deciding on the Council General Approach on the AAQD revision. To ensure that people across Europe breathe clean air for a healthy life, health groups urge you to follow concerns from people across the EU and science, and go beyond the ambition of the September 2023 European Parliament’s position. This includes especially adopting a date of 2030 for ensuring the full alignment of EU clean air standards with the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO), in view of the urgency to swiftly and significantly reduce the health burden of air pollution.

In addition, we urge you to follow up on the July 2023 adoption of the “Budapest Declaration” of the Seventh Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health and show your commitment in protecting people’s health and saving on health economic cost by tightening the flexibilities and derogations foreseen in the draft law (especially article 18).

Read the full letter here