Many European cities still suffer from poor air quality, with main pollutants concentrations still exceeding the 2021 WHO air quality guideline levels as well as the EU air quality standards. This is the case for fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which is the air pollutant responsible for most of the well-documented premature deaths and further adverse health effects. As anthropogenic emissions are the main contributor to air pollution, and while clean air legislation has undoubtedly improved air quality over the years, exposure to high pollution levels are still problematic and localised in specific regions and cities. A key issue is thus to determine at which scale to act to address these remaining air pollution problems most effectively, in line with the objectives of the EU’s Zero Pollution Action Plan . In this Atlas, both the spatial (e.g. urban, country) and sectoral (road transport, residential, agriculture…) contributions to air pollution are quantified for 150 urban areas in Europe. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) for many cities, local actions at the city scale are an effective means of reducing PM2.5 levels, related health effects, premature deaths and associated costs; (2) target sectors and scales to abate air pollution are city specific; (3) for most cities, further sectoral measures addressing residential heating at the local level, in particular biomass burning, would be very effective; (4) for many cities, further sectoral measures addressing agriculture at country - or EU - scale would clearly benefit urban air quality and (5) the trend calculated from the 2019, 2023 and 2025 atlases indicate a relative increase of the urban contribution originating mostly from the residential sector, and to a relative reduction of the industrial component, mostly originating from the overall SOx emission reductions.
THUNIS Philippe;
PISONI Enrico;
ZAULI SAJANI Stefano;
DE MEIJ Alexander;
REY POMMIER Anthony;
PEKAR Ferenc;
2025-11-30
Publications Office of the European Union
JRC143618
978-92-68-32214-7 (online),
978-92-68-32816-3 (print),
1831-9424 (online),
1018-5593 (print),
EUR 40480,
OP KJ-01-25-507-EN-N (online),
OP KJ-01-25-507-EN-C (print),
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC143618,
10.2760/3872483 (online),
10.2760/8231124 (print),
