Improving air quality is everyone’s responsibility: government agencies, industry, and citizens.

At the collective level

Risk reduction depends on:

Regulations

Public authorities’ efforts to reduce air pollution represent one of the most effective public health interventions of the past 20 to 30 years.

At the European level, Directives (2004/107 and 2008/50/EC) set the health standards to be met. Directive (EU) 2016/2284 of December 16, 2016, sets targets for reducing pollutant emissions relative to 2005 levels for the years 2020 and 2030, incorporating the objectives of the Gothenburg Protocol.

In France, Law No. 96-1236, known as the Laure Law, recognizes everyone’s right to breathe air that does not harm their health, and the Environmental Code provides for air quality monitoring throughout the country. This monitoring is entrusted to the Approved Air Quality Monitoring Associations (AASQA), which are members of the Atmo-France Federation. The Central Air Quality Monitoring Laboratory (LCSQA) provides technical coordination for the monitoring system."

Plans

At the national level, the government establishes action plans and programs such as the National Plan for the Reduction of Air Pollutant Emissions (PRÉPA), which sets out the government’s strategy for reducing air pollutant emissions nationwide and complying with European requirements.

Furthermore, Law No. 2004-806 of August 9, 2004, on public health policy establishes the regulatory framework for the National Environmental Health Plan (PNSE). The report appended to this law defines 100 objectives for improving the population’s health, including Objective No. 20: “Reduce the population’s exposure to air pollutants.”

Furthermore, the law on the energy transition for green growth includes provisions to promote air quality (the text provides a long-term framework for combating pollution).

At the local level,

• Air Protection Plans (PPA): implemented by prefects, they define the objectives and measures to reduce concentrations of air pollutants to levels below regulatory limits within urban areas with more than 250,000 inhabitants and in zones where regulatory limits are exceeded or at risk of being exceeded

• Regional Environmental Health Plans (PRSE) implemented by prefects and regions

• Emergency measures during pollution peaks are triggered by prefects as soon as the limit values for information and alert thresholds are exceeded. They enable the public to be warned and their exposure to pollution to be limited (decree of March 26, 2014).

• Climate, Air, and Energy Plans (PCAET), Urban Mobility Plans (PDU), etc.: Given their responsibilities and areas of expertise (urban planning, mobility, etc.), local authorities are key players in promoting air quality.

More information on
:- the website of the Ministry of Ecology on
public policies to reduce air pollution - Climate, Air, and Energy Policies

Urban Planning

Land use planning and the urban environment influence public health. Various initiatives and tools are being developed in France. For example:

• urban planning documents (SCoT, PLU, PLUi) that have a direct impact on pollutant emissions and are subject to a mandatory environmental assessment;

• Urban Mobility Plans (PDU), which enable the development of alternatives to motorized transport or the sharing of such transport, and provide a better understanding of the population exposed to pollution;

• Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a proactive approach implemented as early as possible in the decision-making process to predict the health impacts of projects and recommend appropriate measures. For example, the HIA approach was applied prior to the urban renewal of the Pontchaillou train station in Rennes.

Transportation

To improve air quality, public authorities at the European, national, and local levels can take action through a variety of measures, such as:

• improving infrastructure and regulating fuel quality, or emissions from engines (e.g., Euro standards setting pollutant emission limits for new vehicles);

• promoting transportation that is better for health and the environment, particularly “active mobility” (walking, cycling, etc.). 

More information at:

• the website of the Ministry of Ecology:

  • https://www.ecologique-solidaire.gouv.fr/biocarburants

  • https://www.ecologique-solidaire.gouv.fr/velo-et-marche

• the ADEME website

Measures to combat climate change

Several actions help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution while improving health. These include, for example, prioritizing active transportation over cars. The importance of the health co-benefits associated with climate change mitigation policies is recognized in the Paris Agreement

More information at:

• climate change

• the workshop of the SPF meetings on pollution, climate, and health

• the report from the 2015 climate workshop

Agricultural policies

Agriculture contributes to emissions of air pollutants such as primary or secondary particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, organic compounds, pesticides, and ammonia, particularly those linked to animal manure.

Ways to address this issue are an emerging topic in both French and European legislation.

More information at:

• the ADEME website

  • https://www.ademe.fr/sites/default/files/assets/documents/agriculture-et-pollution-air-primequal-vf.pdf

  • https://www.ademe.fr/emissions-agricoles-particules-lair-etat-lieux-leviers-daction-plan-particule

• the Chambers of Agriculture website

• the European Commission website

  • https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2018:0330:FIN:FR:PDF

  • https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/FR/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016L2284

At the individual level

Risk reduction relies on behavioral changes regarding transportation, heating, etc., and the adoption of simple actions designed to improve air quality.

More information at:

• the website of the Ministry of Ecology

  • https://www.ecologique-solidaire.gouv.fr/qualite-lair-interieur

  • https://www.ecologique-solidaire.gouv.fr/management-mobilite

  • https://www.ecologique-solidaire.gouv.fr/energie-dans-batiments

• the Indoor Air Quality Observatory website

• the ADEME website 

Action is needed at all geographic levels

Since air pollution is a global risk factor, action must be taken at all geographic levels and not only during pollution spikes. In the face of the collective and global challenge posed by air pollution, various types of actions are needed at the global, regional, and local levels.

• Above all, this involves strengthening legislation and harmonizing it at the international level.

• Multidisciplinary work is needed with urban planners and architects on urban development, transportation and mobility infrastructure, housing, and the development of agricultural policies to limit emissions.

• It is also up to each individual to make an effort and adapt their behavior by adopting a sustainable development perspective and making the best possible choices (heating methods, transportation, etc.). The goal is to reduce pollution levels at all levels. As the WHO slogan emphasizes: "Today’s environment, tomorrow’s health."

• Air pollution is responsible for significant mortality and morbidity and should be an explicit prevention target in health plans related to cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and respiratory diseases.

• Reducing exposure: It is difficult to reduce daily exposure, although measures can be taken during pollution peaks (see recommendations from the HCSP and the Ministry of Health) and to limit concurrent exposures (painting, tobacco, etc.).

• Climate change and air pollution are closely linked. Some air pollutants are also greenhouse gases and contribute to climate change, such as ozone, for example. Climate change, for its part, will favor certain types of pollutants, such as more frequent conditions conducive to ozone formation, or increased concentrations of fine particulate matter associated with wildfires or Saharan dust storms. Finally, several policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions can improve air quality, and vice versa. Because aerosols have a cooling effect, if we only improve air quality, in the long term we may further degrade the climate. It is therefore very important to ensure the consistency of these policies and to work toward simultaneously reducing both pollutant emissions and greenhouse gas emissions.

What works?

• Reducing pollutant concentrations observed only during pollution peaks has a very small impact on overall exposure to air pollution. In contrast, reducing background pollution levels (the annual average) maximizes health benefits. This policy also reduces the intensity and frequency of pollution peaks.

• Measures have already been implemented globally and in several European cities and have been effective in reducing morbidity and mortality, e.g., the reduction of sulfur content in fuels in Europe in the 1990s, the creation of low-emission zones in Rome from 2001 to 2005, policies to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants in the United States between 1995 and 2010, plant closures, reductions in emissions from coal combustion and fuel desulfurization in China between 2003 and 2010, and more recently in France, measures to establish low-emission zones, such as the one in Paris, which was the subject of a health impact assessment to which Santé publique France contributed.

• Reducing air pollution is economically feasible and cost-effective, as the Senate highlights in its Report No. 610 on “Air Pollution: The Cost of Inaction.” The total cost of outdoor air pollution ranges from 68 to 97 billion euros per year. The cost of indoor air pollution has been estimated at nearly 20 billion euros per year. The non-health-related costs (decreased agricultural yields, loss of biodiversity, and deterioration and erosion of buildings) amount to at least 4.3 billion euros per year. After deducting the cost of all measures to combat air pollution, the net health benefit for France from combating air pollution would be more than 11 billion euros per year.