The European institutions agreed last week to tighten the concentration limits in the air for the main pollutants.
In several cases, it means halving the maximums compared to what has been allowed until now.
The countries of the European Union will have to catch up in the next six years, because they will be mandatory from 2030. And, in view of current data, Spain will not be an exception.
In fact, none of the 20 most populated cities in the country currently meet the new annual limits for two of the main pollutants: nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and PM₂,₅ particles (those with a diameter less than 2.5 microns), which are behind tens of thousands of premature deaths a year in Spain.
Based on the 2022 data, none of these two dozen cities would comply with the new legal limit of PM₂,₅ (which will go from the current 20 micrograms per cubic meter to 10) and only four—Las Palmas, Alicante, Vitoria and Elche—would respect the new concentration established for NO₂ (which goes from 40 micrograms per cubic meter to 20).
Miguel Ceballos, pollution expert, warns that the new limits “must be met by 2030 at the latest, so policies must be implemented now” to improve air quality.
And the first thing is to “rigorously comply with the measures already contemplated by current legislation.”
Ceballos, who has been analyzing air quality in Spain for Ecologistas en Acción for years, refers to the low-emission zones, which cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants should have implemented on January 1, 2023. But more than A year later, non-compliance is still massive: only 7 of the 20 most populated cities in the country have their low emissions zone in force, according to data from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition.
The implementation of these zones is just one of the measures that must be taken to comply with the new European limits, which will be reflected in a directive that will be approved this semester.
Going down to the new limits will be complex in some cases and with some compounds, such as particles less than 2.5 microns, warns Xavier Querol, researcher at the Institute of Environmental Diagnostics and Water Studies, of the CSIC.
Because its formation does not depend only on traffic or smoke coming out of chimneys, but is also influenced by atmospheric conditions.
Since the late nineties of the last century, the European Union has had regulations to control air pollution in which limits are set for the concentration of the main substances harmful to humans, among which are PM₂,₅ and the NO₂.
States must monitor pollution through their network of measuring stations and report the data to Brussels.
The country is divided into 131 “agglomerations” that cover the entire territory and in most cases are made up of more than one municipality.
Based on the 2022 data from all national stations, compiled by Ecologistas en Acción, it can be concluded that 40 of the 131 Spanish agglomerations now do not comply with the new NO₂ limits.
In each agglomeration there is usually more than one control station - although in some cases this is not the case - and European regulations establish that to decree legal compliance, annual data is taken from the worst of the meters.
Non-compliance in the case of the new nitrogen dioxide limits would occur mainly in large cities, as this compound is closely linked to traffic.
In fact, these 40 agglomerations represent 30% of the 151 existing ones, but 52% of the Spanish population resides in them.
And in 16 of the 20 most populated municipalities in Spain, some of the measurement stations exceed 20 micrograms per cubic meter on an annual average.
Spain has had the biggest problems so far with this pollutant, closely linked in large cities to diesel cars.
In fact, the country was condemned for systematically violating NO₂ limits for a decade in Madrid and the Barcelona metropolitan area.
They had to be fulfilled since 2010, but in both cases it did not happen until the beginning of this decade.
“If measures such as promoting the electrification of transport and pedestrian and cyclist mobility are not implemented, we will be led to what already happened to us with Barcelona and Madrid,” warns Ceballos.
This expert speaks of the “moral obligation” to fight against pollution that has “unaffordable human and economic costs.”
“It is not acceptable to wait until 2030, we must take measures now,” adds Ceballos with an eye on the refusal of many mayors to implement low-emission zones, traffic areas in which the passage of vehicles is restricted. more pollutants.
Although the Climate Change Law obliges the country's 151 cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants to have one for more than a year, only about twenty have them active, reports Miguel Ángel Medina.
The vast majority are in the process of installing them, although in general with little ambition (in small areas and with few restrictions), as Ceballos also warns.
Furthermore, at least six city councils that launched right-wing local governments last May (mostly from PP and Vox) announced their intention to reduce or delay the entry into force of these areas.
Faced with this situation, the Ministry of Transport sent a letter to mayors at the end of 2023 to warn them that European funds would be withdrawn if they stopped their low-emission zones or backed down on other sustainable mobility measures.
The Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, also warned that she could bring non-compliant parties to justice, while the Ombudsman opened an ex officio action to consult councilors why they are delaying so much in applying the law. .
Fine particles
In the case of fine particles, the situation with the new European limits will be more complicated and it is foreseeable that it will pose a problem that Spain has not had until now.
In 78 of the country's 131 agglomerations, there would be a situation of non-compliance if the new annual maximums for PM₂,₅ came into force at this time.
And in all large cities the limits now established by community institutions are exceeded.
Querol recalls that Spain complied with European legislation on particles without much effort starting in 2010. “And the measures focused more on stopping nitrogen dioxide,” he adds.
Furthermore, in the case of PM₂,₅ the sources are more dispersed.
In the case of large cities, Querol points out that only 30% of these particles come from traffic.
Another 10% comes from construction, 10% from ports if it is a coastal city, between 10% and 15% from industry... Furthermore, it also “depends on the atmospheric conditions that can favor or prevent particles from forming.”
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