Article 13 of Directive (EU) 2016/2284 calls on the Commission to review the Directive no later than 31 December 2025. The Commission evaluated the Directive in line with the Better Regulation guidelines. The evaluation assessed the extent to which the Directive has reached its objective of protecting human health and the environment by reducing national emissions of the five main air pollutants.
It also took into account the clean air targets set in the 2021 Zero Pollution Action Plan. Furthermore, the evaluation assessed whether the Directive has proved coherent with and contributed to EU air quality policy, and whether it has created synergies with other EU policies.
Read our press release here and the staff working document on the NEC Directive evaluation.
The main findings of the evaluation include:
- The NEC Directive has contributed to reducing air pollutant emissions. Member States met 90% of emission reduction commitments in 2023. Progress is due to the synergetic action of EU and Member State policies related to the NEC Directive, the Ambient Air Quality Directives, and climate, energy, transport, industrial, agriculture and biodiversity policies.
- Every euro spent on clean air yields benefits of four to thirteen euros. Benefits are linked to improved health of the EU population and to avoided economic damage, e.g., to crops and buildings.
- Meeting the 2030 emission-reduction commitments requires further effort from some Member States. Still, the stricter 2030 reduction commitments are not enough to achieve the 2030 zero-pollution target for ecosystems or to meet the EU’s revised, more stringent air quality limit values for PM2.5.
- The evaluation identified some short to medium-term simplification opportunities. They include clarifying the format of the national air pollution control programme, improving the Policies and Measures (PaM) web tool, and enhancing ecosystem monitoring.
- EU clean air policy is complemented by international cooperation under the UNECE Air Convention’s Gothenburg Protocol. A revision of the Gothenburg Protocol is ongoing. The EU and its Member States are actively engaged in the negotiations.
Stakeholder consultations
The public was consulted in early 2024 through Have Your Say on the call for evidence, which described the scope of the evaluation exercise.
In addition, the Commission consulted stakeholders through the following consultation tools and processes:
- A public consultation was launched on 3 September 2024 on Have Your Say through a questionnaire. Replies to the online public consultation could be provided in any official EU language. The consultation ran for 12 weeks, ending on 26 November 2024. The factual summary and contributions are available on the “Have Your Say” portal.
- A targeted stakeholder consultation was also launched on 3 September 2024. It contained more specific questions addressed to different groups of stakeholders, including Member States and the relevant authorities, civil society organisations, international stakeholders, industry representatives and the scientific community. This consultation ran for 12 weeks, ending on 26 November.
- A stakeholder meeting took place on 14 October 2024. It provided an opportunity to discuss stakeholder feedback on the Directive's functioning. You can find more information on the workshop here.
- Discussions were held at meetings of the Member State expert group on implementing the Directive.
Documents
Relevant information sources to inform the review include the following:
- A dedicated study contracted by the Commission to support the evaluation, and the public and targeted stakeholder consultations (final report); appendices
- Implementation reports prepared in line with Article 11 of the Directive: First report (2020) and Second report (2024).
- Yearly inventory data submitted by Member States and compiled by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and analysed by the Commission.
- Data on ecosystem impacts reported by Member States and analysed by the Commission.
- National air pollution control programmes and emission projections reported by Member States and analysed by the Commission.
- A report analysing the suitability of the NAPCP common format and of the EEA PaM tool, prepared in the context of a service request by the Commission to analyse the national air pollution control programmes.
- Previous and forthcoming editions of the Clean Air Outlook and the support studies underpinning them.
- A report analysing reporting requirements of the Directive not linked to emission reduction commitments based on a service request from the Commission.