Brussels Meeting on Air Pollution and Health: Recent Advances to Inform the European Green Deal

Barbara Hoffmann, European Respiratory Society (ERS), Hanna Boogaard, Health Effects Institute (HEI) and ISEE Europe, and Nathalie Roebbel World Health Organization (WHO)

Chairs: Robert O’Keefe, HEI and Martin Williams, King’s College London 

The session summarizes the current European and US regulatory contexts, against the backdrop of the European Green Deal, which sets out how to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

Chairs: Dorota Jarosinska, WHO Regional Office For Europe, and Dan Greenbaum, HEI

Although ambient air pollution levels are declining in high-income regions, epidemiological studies report associations with health effects at levels below current standards, raising questions about even lower standards. HEI is in the midst of funding three studies investigating the health effects of low-level exposure in very large populations in Europe and North America. This session will present the results currently available from those studies, discuss their strengths and weaknesses, and discuss potential implications for future risk assessment and regulation.

Chairs: Michal Krzyzanowski, WHO (retired), and Frank Kelly, King’s College London

The session will review the latest science on major air pollutants as a key step in evaluating whether to update Europe’s air quality policies. It will present findings from recent key reviews on air pollution health effects from Europe and beyond. It will describe approaches for evidence synthesis, and discuss possible paths forward.

Chairs: Nathalie Roebbel, WHO and Annemoon van Erp, HEI

There is a long-standing interest in measuring the effectiveness of air quality and climate actions in improving health. Cities are taking bold air quality and climate action, leading the way towards a healthier and more sustainable future. This session will review the latest science, and highlight key co-benefits benefits to inform the Europan Green Deal.

Barbara Hoffmann, ERS, Hanna Boogaard, HEI and ISEE Europe, and Sophie Gumy, WHO

Chairs: Sophie Gumy, WHO and Mike Brauer, University of British Columbia

How important are air pollutants as a threat to public health? What are the potential health and economic benefits of meeting different air quality standards? Which sources contribute most to air pollution and its impacts? Scientists and regulators have turned to health burden assessment methods to answer such questions, often leading to an array of estimates. This session will present the most recent European Environmental Agency estimates of air pollution’s burden, explain some of the approaches and challenges in estimation and interpretation of air pollution’s health burden, and discuss opportunities for placing air pollution’s impacts into a broader perspective

Chairs: Dan Greenbaum, HEI and Hans Bruyninckx, EEA

In wrapping up the meeting, we will summarize the evidence presented, including whether there is a concentration below which no adverse health effects are observed for the major pollutants. In addition, we will discuss remaining uncertainties and priorities for future research and policy.