Scandinavia and the Baltic countries had the cleanest air in Europe this summer while Greece, France and Italy faced the worst smog levels, said the European Environment Agency (EEA).
Under European Union law, governments must inform the public whenever air pollution exceeds 180 micrograms of ozone per cubic metre of air (180 μg/m3), averaged over one hour. In the April-August period, this threshold was exceeded in 11 out of the 15 EU member states and in six out of 12 non-EU countries which supplied data, the EEA said in a statement.
Greece had the highest number of days (68) where pollution was above the threshold, followed by France (56), Italy (52) and Spain (48). Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, as well as Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Romania and Sweden were the cleanest, all remaining below the threshold.
The highest ozone concentration recorded this summer was 391 μg/m3, at Puertollano in Spain.
From next year, EU countries must respect a second threshold, of 240 μg/m3. When this level is breached, governments have to take steps to immediately reduce ozone pollution, such as reducing traffic, where this is feasible.
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European Environment Agency: http://www.eea.eu.int/
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