Stakeholder workshop on Indoor Air Quality held in Brussels
In October in Brussels, Foundation Euractiv held a stakeholder workshop entitled 'The air we breathe - from regulatory patchwork to coordinated EU action?' in Brussels. The aim of the workshop was to discuss the possibility of legislating to improve the quality of indoor air in the EU.
Although outdoor air quality has long been a focus of EU policy makers, Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is only inconsistently legislated for at EU level. Nevertheless, recent research has found that a greater proportion of pollutants are now to be found in indoor environments. The urgency of acknowledging this is further increased when it is taken into account that Europeans are spending more time (on average 80%) indoors, and that the quality of indoor air has deteriorated as insulation in buildings has been reinforced in recent times.
Participants at the event - who included representatives of the European Parliament and Commission, as well as health and patient associations, among others - discussed whether or not there is room at EU level for further legislation on Indoor Air Quality, and if so, what benefits and implications this could have. Susanna Palkonen, EFA Executive Officer, represented EFA at the event and stressed that the biggest issue at the moment is the lack of a coherent strategy for ensuring good Indoor Air Quality in the EU, whether this be in the form of legislation or otherwise. Video Clip