15 June 2015: A report published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) has concluded that air pollutant emissions in the EU continue to exceed legal limits, with preliminary 2013 data and a summary of data for 2010-2012 indicating that ten EU member States exceeded one or more of their emission ceilings for key four key pollutants.

Under the National Emission Ceilings (NEC) Directive, EU member States have individual air pollutant emission limits, or ‘ceilings,’ for the four following pollutants: SO2, NOx, ammonia (NH3), and non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC).

The report ‘NEC Directive status report 2014,’ addresses these four pollutants, which harm human health and the environment, leading to respiratory illnesses, acidifying soil and surface waters, and damaging vegetation.

The report finds that out of the ten countries exceeding at least one ceiling in 2013, Germany was the only country that exceeded three of the four emission ceilings, while Austria, Denmark and Ireland exceeded two ceilings. Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and Luxembourg exceeded their NOx limits in all years from 2010-2013. In 2013, Germany and France reported the highest exceedences of their NOx limits, while in percentage terms, Luxembourg (41%) and Austria (32%) surpassed their NOx emission ceilings by the greatest amount in 2013.

Road transport emissions are a primary reason for such a large number of exceeded ceiling of NOx emissions, with reductions lower than originally anticipated, due to transport growing more than expected and the increased number of diesel vehicles. In addition, ‘real-world emissions’ often surpass the permitted test-cycle emissions used for vehicle certification.

The report further indicates that Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain all exceeded the NH3 limits for the four years, 2010-2013, with almost 95% of such emissions coming from agriculture. While NH3 emissions have decreased since 1990, they have not done so at the same rate as the other pollutants covered by the NEC Directive. None of the countries exceeded the SO2 emissions ceiling between 2010 and 2013. [EEA Press Release] [Publication: NEC Directive Status Report 2014] [National Emission Ceilings]