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