LIFE-PLATFORM MEETING ON AIR QUALITY
26-27 September 2017, EL BORN CENTRE, Plaza Comercial 12, BARCELONA, SPAIN
ABATING URBAN EXPOSURE TO AIR POLLUTANTS
Air quality is one of the major health related environmental issues from global to local scales.
The European Administrations, the WHO, the World Bank, among others, are continuously reporting on the large impact of air quality impairment on human health and on the need of implementing actions to reduce air pollutant concentrations. Special emphasis is put on the need to reduce European ambient air levels of atmospheric particulate matter (PM), followed by NO2, O3, aromatic hydrocarbons and metals.
European policy on air quality has largely improved air quality in urban and industrial areas by means of implementing stricter legislation on vehicle emissions, industry, and large and medium scale combustion plants. Also the National Emission Ceilings Directive has recently being revised. National, Regional and Local Administrations have also made important efforts in implementing measures, with a large list of success stories. However, in spite of these efforts, current ambient levels of urban air pollutants still exceed by far their respective WHO guidelines for human protection. Consequently, additional and more complex/focused actions are necessary to lower urban pollution to achieve these guidelines. This is a difficult target that requires the collaboration of the academic and policy stakeholders.
Current hot topics on abating air pollution in urban areas include, measures on road traffic, industry (especially fugitive emissions), domestic and commercial heating (including solid fuel stoves/boilers), shipping, construction/demolition works and airports.
Road traffic is one of the major contributors to citizens’ exposure to pollutants such as PM and NO2. Not only exhaust, but also vehicle and road wear (brake, tire and pavement) emissions contribute to increase this exposure, especially during daily commuting due to the proximity to the emission sources. Of very high relevance, is the evaluation and abatement of exposure of commuters using different modes of public transport, such as subway, bus, tram and cycling systems.
The International LIFE Platform meeting on AIR, hosted by the AIRUSE & IMPROVE LIFE projects, intends to review the most state of the art strategies and measures to have better air in the cities where we live. For this, a discussion will be established to firstly know the current situation, the problems we are facing, and the available measures to achieve it. Speakers from different areas will present their views on this matter aiming to be able to prepare helpful guidelines useful for all European cities. To this end we devised a two days meeting with 3 blocks of sessions; the first on Urban Air Quality Measures; the second on Citizen Exposure while Commuting, and the third one on Models and Tools for Air Quality Management.
The meeting is organised in cooperation with the Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV); the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) and the European Commission. The NEEMO external monitoring team is providing the logistic support for this platform meeting and AXA research fund also provides support for the meeting.
Participation in the meeting is free, but participants must cover their own costs for travel, accommodation and subsistence. For ongoing projects these costs will be considered eligible as travel costs.
Tuesday 26/09/2017
09:00 h: Registration
09:20-09:45 h: Welcome to delegates by Mercè Rius (General Director, D.G. Environment, Government of Catalonia), Janet Sanz (Vice-Mayor of Barcelona), Xavier Querol, Teresa Moreno, (PIs of AIRUSE and IMPROVE LIFE+ projects, respectively)
09:45-10:00 h: Presentation of LIFE ENV PROGRAME by Mario Lionetti, from EC-EASME
10:00-11:20 h: Introduction: Challenges and problems to overcome at four scales
- The view of the Regional Governments, by Mercè Rius, from D.G. Environment, Government of Catalonia
- A European overview, by Alberto González Ortiz, from European Environmental Agency
- The view of the State Members, by Irene Olivares, from D.G. Environment, Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fishing and Environment
- The view of the cities, by Joan Marc Craviotto, from Barcelona City Council
11:20-11:50 h: Coffee break
11:50-13:10 h: Effectiveness of urban air quality measures (projects)
- AIRUSE, Sources and measures_1 (LIFE 11 ENV/ES/000584). Xavier Querol
- AIRUSE, Sources and measures_2(LIFE 11 ENV/ES/000584). Fulvio Amato
- REDUST-LIFE (LIFE 09 ENV/FI/000579). Outi Väkevä
- LIFE COBRA (LIFE 13 ENV/IT/000492). Andrea Bonfanti
13:10-14:10 h: Lunch break
14:10-15:30 h: Effectiveness of urban air quality measures (projects)
- E-MOBILITY-LIFE (LIFE11 ENV/NL/000793). Pieter Looijestijn
- AUTO LIFE12 ENV/FR/000480. Thierry Seguelong
- MINOx-STREET-LIFE (LIFE 12 ENV/ES/000280). Magdalena Palacios
- CLEAN HEAT-LIFE (LIFE14 GIE/DE/000490). Laura Krug
15:30-16:10 h: Effectiveness of urban air quality measures (the cities)
- David Dajnak, from King’s College London
- Angeles Cristobal, from Madrid City Council
16:10-16:30 h: The Air-Alliance: European vehicle eco-labelling for new and old vehicles. Nick Molden and Massimo Fedeli
16:30-17:00 h: Coffee break
17:00-18:00 h: General debate
18:00 h: End of the session
Wednesday 27/09/2017
09.00-09:15 h: AXA research fund guidebook on AIRUSE LIFE+ measures to improve air quality. Fulvio Amato
09:15-09:30 h: European Investment Project Portal (EIPP). Ramona Ocak, from EC- DG ECFIN
09:30-10:30 h: Citizen exposure while commuting
- IMPROVE Subway air quality measures (LIFE 13/ENV/ES/000263). Teresa Moreno
- IMPROVE Subway exposure to organic compounds (LIFE 13/ENV/ES/000263). Barend van
Drooge
- RESPIRA-LIFE-Urban Cycling (LIFE 13/ENV/ES/000417). Jesús M. Santamaría
10:30-11:00 h: Coffee break
11:00-12:00 h: Citizen exposure while commuting (continuation)
- LIFE GYM. (LIFE14 ENV/GR/000611). Georgios Saharidis
- PASTA (FP7/ 602624-2). Luc Int Panis
- The case of the Greater Paris Area. Sophie Moukhtar, from AIRPARIF
12:00-12:40 h: Clean public transport
- TMB – Metropolitan Transports of Barcelona. Josep Armengol
- SLIDE IN-LIFE+ (LIFE 10/ENV/SE/00035). Patrik Rydén
12:40-13:20 h: Models and tools for air quality management
- GySTRA (LIFE 16/ENV/ES/00082). Dolores Hidalgo
- Supporting implementation of the Air Quality Plan for Malapolska (LIFE IPE PL 021). LisaBlyth
13:20-14:20 h: Lunch break
14:20-15:20 h: Models and tools for air quality management (continuation)
- LONDON HYBRID EXPOSURE MODEL. David Dajnak
- BrennerLEC (LIFE 15/ENV/IT/000281). Laura Pretto
- LIFE-IP PREPAIR (LIFE 15/IP/IT/000013). Lavinia Laiti
15:20-16:20 h: General debate
16:30 h: End of the meeting
Contact: cristina.vasconcelos@idaea.csic.es & raquel.navarrete@neemo.eu