With only two days to go until of the EP plenary vote on the EU’s air quality legislation, the National Emissions Ceiling Directive (NEC), the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) sent an open letter to MEPs calling on them to vote for clean air.

EFA is a member of HEAl and the letter was sent on behalf of EFA and a number of other organisations campaigning for clean air:  EEB, T&E, EAACI, COPD, EFA, EPHA, AirClim and Client Earth. (The letter is also available below).

PDF of our joint letter to MEPs

23 October 2015

Dear Member of the European Parliament,

Clean air – everywhere – for European citizens!

Next Wednesday you have the unique opportunity to set the European Union on track for clean air and save literally tens of thousands of European lives each year.

Air pollution continues to cause significant damage to health, harms our natural environment, makes it more difficult to protect our cultural heritage and buildings, hampers economic productivity, lessens the quality of life in Europe’s cities, and much more.

It is estimated that the health costs from air pollution alone amount to 330 – 940 billion EUR a year. Over 400,000 people die prematurely each year because of polluted air.

You can change this.

Please follow the recommendations from your colleagues of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety on the National Emissions Ceilings Directive (NEC), who supported strengthening the modest proposal from the EU Commission. Up to 42,865 additional European lives could be savedeach yearcompared to the original EU Commission proposal if the ENVI position was followed, within the same cost range as calculated by the EU Commission. So greater health benefits at low cost.

Given the severity and pervasiveness of the air pollution problem, all sectors of our economy need to take their fair share in cleaning up Europe’s air. The recent VW emissions scandal showed that greater regulatory action and scrutiny is needed, such as a swift entry into force of the new Real-World Driving Emissions (RDE) test and establishing an EU Type-Approval Authority to ensure car testing is robust and done independently.

The VW scandal also showed the pitfalls of allowing industry groups to have too much influence over legislation. Don’t give in to calls from large scale industrial farms who want preferential treatment. Agriculture is responsible for over 90% of ammonia and 50% of methane emissions and only achieved slight reductions in the last years, even though cost-effective technical solutions are available.

Why should the laggards be rewarded?

Please hear the citizens’ call for cleaner air – everywhere.

For more information see here:

• Via EEB website:NGO recommendations on the revision of the NEC directive following the publication of the rapporteur’s draft report
• Via HEAL website:Environment NGOs recommendations on the revision of the NEC directive following the publication of the rapporteur’s draft reportandHealth NGOs recommendations on the revision of the NEC directive following the publication of the rapporteur’s draft report

Thanks you in advance for your support,

Yours sincerely,
Anne Stauffer
Deputy Director, Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL)

ON BEHALF OF:
European Environmental Bureau (EEB)
Transport and Environment (T&E)
European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI)
European Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Coalition (COPD)
European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients Associations (EFA)
European Public Health Alliance (EPHA)
Air Pollution & Climate Secretariat (AirClim)
Client Earth