More than 100 participants took part to the regional webinar co-organised by the Covenant of Mayors East and the EU4Environment Water and Data programme. The aim was to raise awareness of municipalities about the impact of air pollution, and to showcase good practice examples to reduce Particulate Matters emissions from major sources.
National workshops building on this regional webinar will follow in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine at the end of September.
Air pollution is the main environmental threat to human health. The World Health Organization (WHO) assumes that around 7 million premature deaths are globally related to air pollution. The pollutant with the most severe health impacts is fine particulate matter, PM2.5.
The main sources of PM2.5 are domestic heating with biomass or coal, diesel vehicles, open burning of waste and agricultural waste, industry and power plants. A number of good practice examples are available that can be implemented to reduce emissions of PM2.5 from these sources. In most cases, these measures contribute to further environmental topics such as climate change and noise as well as improving energy security and mobility.
Presentations:
- Municipalities act for climate and sustainable energy use (including “My Air Quality” tool by JRC)
- Health impacts and main sources of PM
- Possible mitigation measures for domestic heating, agricultural waste burning, electricity generators, traffic
- Energy poverty
- There’s something in the air – Communicating Air Quality and mitigation measures