www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

Make me your Homepage
left corner left corner
China Daily Website

Draft law seeks to tackle lethal European air

Updated: 2013-12-18 18:54
( Agencies)

BRUSSELS - EU policymakers on Wednesday unveiled a draft law to tackle air pollution, which every year is linked to 400,000 premature deaths in Europe and costs of tens of billions of euros.

The proposals include new limits on emissions from power plants and industry, as well as measures to make member states comply with existing rules on limiting pollutants associated with asthma, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

So far, many member states are failing to enforce existing EU air quality standards, even though the rules are less rigorous than those set by the World Health Organization.

"Air pollution is still an invisible killer and it prevents many people from living a fully active life," Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik said in a statement.

Environmental campaigners say the European Commission, the EU executive, is not being bold enough in tackling a problem linked to more untimely deaths than road accidents, as well as countless sick days and impaired quality of life.

The Commission has said the eventual aim is to raise standards to WHO levels, but it has to balance costs to industry with benefits in fragile economic times.

It puts the direct costs to society, including damage to crops and buildings, from air pollution at around 23 billion euros ($31.6 billion) per year.

The health benefits alone of the proposals will save society 40 billion euros per year, 12 times the cost of pollution abatement, which is expected to reach 3.4 billion euros per year in 2030, the Commission said.

The Commission calculates that adopting its proposed measures would reduce the annual death toll from pollution-related disease by 58,000 by 2030, as well as protecting fragile ecosystems and boosting the clean-technology industry.

NEW LAW PLUS ENFORCEMENT

The measures include revised legal limits on how much each member state can emit of a list of major pollutants, as well as a new law to cut pollution from medium-sized combustion installations, such as power plants.

Alan Andrews, a Brussels-based lawyer at environmental law firm Client Earth, welcomed the inclusion of medium-sized plants, which previously escaped requirements limited to larger installations.

He also said the inclusion of planet-warming methane gas and fine dust, known as PM 2.5 (particulate matter), associated with cardiovascular disease and lung cancer was progress.

Other pollutants from traffic, industry and agriculture already covered by EU law are larger particulates, nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide, ammonia and volatile organic compounds, which contribute to ground ozone formation.

The proposals follow a review of existing law, which has cut concentrations of some harmful pollutants. EU air quality is relatively good compared with Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa, WHO data shows.

But increased traffic volumes and a rise in wood burning by households as a cheap alternative to gas mean some types of harmful pollution are receding more slowly.

Levels of particulate matter, especially the more penetrating and therefore more dangerous PM 2.5, as well as the larger PM 10 are one of the biggest health risks.

But the tighter proposed limits on PM will pose problems for EU governments, many of which have struggled to meet the existing caps. Up to a third of Europeans are exposed to dangerous levels of PM pollution, official figures show.

According to the Commission and the European Environment Agency, which provides guidance to EU policymakers, 400,000 people in Europe die prematurely each year due to diseases linked to air pollution.

($1 = 0.7283 euros)

8.03K
 
Hot Topics
Sea-level rise since the Industrial Revolution has been fast by natural standards and may reach 80 cm above today's sea-level by the year 2100 and 2.5 m by 2200 even without development of unexpected processes, according to a new research made public on Friday.
...
...
主站蜘蛛池模板: 男人天堂视频在线 | 国产肥老妇视频一 | 新26uuu在线亚洲欧美 | 国产精品久久久久影院色老大 | 永久黄网站色视频免费观看99 | 免费人成综合在线视频 | 亚洲综合精品一区二区三区中文 | 久久久久久久久久综合情日本 | 美女张开腿让男人桶的动态图 | 美女黄色在线看 | 精品久久香蕉国产线看观看亚洲 | 成年人免费看视频 | 91人成亚洲高清在线观看 | 日韩一区二区在线观看 | 亚洲天堂二区 | 久久免费播放 | 美女视频黄在线观看 | 欧美视频精品 | 99久久国产免费福利 | 国产一区二区三区免费观看 | 女人被男人躁得好爽免费视频免费 | 国产精品久久久久影院 | 在线观看国产区 | 99在线精品免费视频九九视 | 国产理论视频在线观看 | 日本亚洲欧美高清专区vr专区 | 久久精品国产99久久6动漫欧 | 蜜臀91精品国产高清在线观看 | 特级毛片全部免费播放器 | 日本一区二区高清免费不卡 | 亚洲精品综合一区在线 | 亚洲国产成人综合精品2020 | 日韩 欧美 自拍 在线 视频 | 国产人成午夜免视频网站 | 99久久九九 | 国产99久久久久久免费看 | 国产三级精品91三级在专区 | 黄毛片一级毛片 | 久久成人国产精品免费 | 日韩中文字幕在线视频 | 窝窝人体色 |