Clean air and water are essential for the health of people and ecosystems, which is why the European Commission is proposing stricter standards on ambient air, surface and groundwater pollutants and urban wastewater treatment.

For both air and water, the new standards offer a clear return on investment in terms of health benefits, energy savings, food production, industry and biodiversity.

The Commission proposes to revise the Ambient Air Quality Directive and the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive both to tighten permitted levels of pollutants and to improve implementation to ensure that pollution reduction targets are more often met in practice. Today's proposals are a key step towards the European Green Pact's zero pollution ambition, which is to have an environment free of harmful pollution by 2050.

Among the main proposals is the initiative to set interim quality standards more in line with the World Health Organisation, which will be reviewed periodically to ensure they are optimal, as well as adding new substances with proven misleading effects to the lists of harmful substances, such as PFAs or certain pesticides. This will put the EU on a trajectory to achieve zero air pollution by 2050 at the latest, in synergy with climate neutrality efforts.
Today's proposal will help achieve a dramatic improvement in air and water quality across Europe by 2030.

You can read the full press release here.