EPA AQ Workshop 2013 Martin Fitzpatrick Principal Environmental Health Officer Air Quality Monitoring and Noise Control Unit The air quality implementation pilot: Dublin's experience

18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013 Dublin City Council Air Quality Monitoring and Noise Control Unit Key Elements Air Quality Monitoring Enforcement of Air and Noise legislation Research Expertise

Although air quality legislation has been in force for almost twenty years, delayed or inadequate implementation has meant that many parts of Europe have failed to reach minimum air quality standards. In 2011, the European Commission and the EEA agreed to reinforce efforts to improve knowledge on implementation of air quality legislation through a joint pilot project. The Air Implementation Pilot would focus on gaining a better understanding of what cities need in order to improve implementation of EU air quality legislation. 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013 DRIVER FOR ACTION

EU Population = million people 49 % of Europeans are potentially exposed to levels of NO2 that exceed annual limit values. The percentage of population potentially exposed to PM10 levels above daily limit values is 47 %, The percentage of Europeans potentially exposed to ozone levels above the target value for the protection of health is 36%. 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

A first set of eight cities were selected and invited to join the project: Berlin (Germany), Ploiesti (Romania), Dublin (Ireland), Madrid (Spain), Malmö (Sweden), Milan (Italy), Prague (Czech Republic) Vienna (Austria). then 4 more invited: Antwerp (Belgium), Paris (France), Plovdiv (Bulgaria) Vilnius (Lithuania). Working methods No. of meetings -4 between 7 June 2012 and 24 April 2013 Questionnaires Online documentation for the working group 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

Five work areas identified for project: 1.Local emission ‘inventories’ and their level of detail and comparability: data on what pollutants are emitted into the local air, where and from which sources; 2.Modelling activities: the computer-based tools that help to understand the air pollution processes; 3.Air quality monitoring networks: the networks of sampling stations that take regular measurements of air quality. The pilot sought to assess whether these networks gave an accurate representation of air quality in the cities; 4.Management practices: trying to detect trends in air quality and linking these to the most effective measures taken in cities to improve air quality; 5.Public information: how air quality information is communicated to citizens. 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

Where are we now? AQ has improved in all cities, but is still a concern for all cities. The remaining issues are PM 10 (sometimes PM 2.5 ) and NO 2. NO 2 is even a problem in cities with few or no exceedances of the legal limits while other cities have more serious NO 2 problems Ozone (O3) poses a problem in some cities, where there have been exceedances of the target value. These cities include Madrid, Milan, Paris, Prague and Vienna. In Plovdiv and in Prague there are some exceedances of the benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P) annual target value; while Paris experiences exceedances of the benzene limit value on some very busy roads and cross roads. 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

Agriculture Residential heating Weather Growing cities: Industry Long-range transboundary Pollution sources in cities 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

Out of the 12 selected cities, 11 (i.e. all the cities except Dublin) utilise local and/or regional emission inventories (‘EIs’). Dublin’s EI to be developed as a result of the city’s participation in the Air Implementation Pilot??. Emission inventories are regarded as key element in the process of assessment and management of air quality. Currently, the EIs are not directly and easily comparable with each other due to differences in source classification schemes, pollutants and spatial resolutions A working group to exchange best practices on these three elements is envisaged. This could exchange experiences on QA procedures, and to support cities in setting up QA/QC systems, data available, emission factors, inclusion of fugitive sources, and the underlying type of databases. 1.Emission inventories 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

There is virtually no information exchange between European cities concerning the methodology used to compile EIs Fugitive sources of pollution and uncertainties around emission factors are a common problem. Quality and availability of input data –real world 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

2 AQ Models Models are run in general by a service contract consultant; only Malmö, Milan and Paris run them directly in the city authority units. The main difficulties cities´ experts found when running models were: 1.Emission inventories, as: estimation of background and international concentrations; the difficulty to estimate the uncertainties in every source sector; the lack of fugitive emissions; the quality of input data (for instance, traffic) 2.Meteorological input, as lack of good quality urban data 3.Urban geometry (hotspots, biases at kerbside), and specific model processes (coupling, sub-grid scale processes) 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

Three challenges/suggestions for improvements highlighted by cities Either overestimation or underestimation in the results The computational time is long and resource consuming. Complexity of validation and results, difficulty of interpretation. So three outcomes for the project Further guidance is deemed necessary in the following issues: How to chose, apply and validate the appropriate models Producing emission inventories with the right level of detail in relation to the source contribution to the concentration and the optimal updating frequency. Creating a general framework for modelling approach and criteria harmonization. 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

3. Monitoring networks The clear conclusion is that the monitoring networks in the corresponding zones fulfil the requirements on stations density. One criteria set in the AQ Directives that needs attention is to ensure the number of PM10 and PM2.5 stations differs in most zones by more than the required factor of two. 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

4. Trends in concentrations and management practices Eight out of the twelve cities taking part in the Air Pilot project have sent the P&Ps to the European Commission (i.e. Antwerp, Berlin, Dublin, Milan, Paris, Ploiesti, Prague and Vilnius 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

Creation of Low Emission Zone (LEZ); Improvement of public transport; Promotion of cycling; Management of traffic flow; Change of speed limits; Investment in technology to reduce emissions from public transport. compliance with new low sulphur standards for shipping fuels in the port area ban on the marketing, sale and distribution of bituminous coal fuel conversion in domestic heating creation of the district heating. measures to reduce diffusive dust emissions in port. relocation of factories and industrial sites out of the urban area. How many of these are predicated solely on improving air quality? What kind of programmes and practices? 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

EEA response The number of measures is not always related to the effectiveness of the measure. 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

COSTS OF MEASURES Cost estimation seems to be the most complex issue Cost of measures should not be seen only from the perspective of pollutant mass reductions, but instead more overall approaches should be taken. If only strictly economic or emission criteria are considered, measures such as bicycle lanes would seem ineffective when compared to technical measures (e.g., particle filter traps). Social costs are not simple to be calculated, but they are especially relevant for policy- makers and politicians. impact assessments based on premature deaths are not preferred by policy-makers and politicians because the figures are too abstract; instead they prefer data on technical and social costs. Proportion of the population affected by the measures should also be included in cost calculations. Despite the absence of real cost estimates, cities are still able to implement measures. The current economic situation is a clear limiting factor for the implementation of air quality measures. 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

A very useful tool which was highlighted is the simultaneous analysis of different pollutants, especially elemental carbon as it provides new and relevant information from an emission and health-related perspective. 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

Criteria most used when selecting possible measures Effectiveness at reduce emissions Co-benefits in other environmental areas Legal and technical feasibility Economic and social proportionality BUT especially in relation to the last “we are still lacking a definition of what an effective measure is” 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

5. Information to the public 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

Internet Web Pages primarily utilised There is a lack of use of innovative means Alert SMS systems for exceedances are in place only in 2 cities Social networks are only used by the city of Paris Only 4 of them (Madrid, Paris, Prague and Vienna) make use of smartphone applications through well-established applications. Also some criticism of the near real time platforms operated by the EEA and the feeling that more simple, easy and visible information could be provided through them. Using AQ models as a public information tool 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

Overall Challenges and goals - The non-exhaustive list Transport Ensuring energy, transport, and air quality policies are truly integrated with each other and with climate policies Reducing reliance on private transport, Improving the environmental performance of vehicles by means of stricter emission standards on light and heavy vehicles Vehicular emissions, - a larger number of tests of EURO 6 vehicles would improve the data found in emissions inventories and therefore the modelling exercises to assess the effectiveness of measures. 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

Political and public engagement Air quality does not rank very high in political agendas. Public opposition - public’s perception of a given environmental problem (e.g., climate change versus air quality) or solution (e.g., biomass burning to reduce CO2 emissions). Legal aspects such as competences which may be split between different levels (state/region/municipality) Strengthening cooperation between local and regional authorities EU support requested regarding legislation including sanctions for non-compliance. Overall Challenges and goals - The non-exhaustive list 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

Regulatory issues The lack of authority to adopt measures at a larger scale than just the city The need for a regulatory framework and specific actions to address odours pollution Scarcity of financial and human resources to implement certain measures Dublin issues The limited influence of local actions on reducing emissions from household residential heating *** Contribution of background concentrations and meteorological conditions The economic downturn, postponement major strategic transport projects retain political commitment when there are other pressing needs Not forgetting past mistakes Overall Challenges and goals - The non-exhaustive list 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013

Collaborate with partners rather than commission emission inventory and AQ model Continue our research partnerships Support innovation Continued involvement in City networks e.g. EUROCITIES The Health Agenda - commonality of agendas 18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013 Next steps for Dublin

18 th EIONET Workshop on Air Quality Assessment and Management Dublin, Ireland 24 th and 25 th October, 2013