CEM MiddleEast - Abstract

Abstract Information :

In many regions in the world exist regulations for air quality. The reasons for that are e.g. to control air pollution levels, to provide information to the authorities and to the public, to create regulations to lower emissions and so to reduce the impact on air quality. These regulations are very important, as e.g. even in Europe the air quality is still a problem. In the EU air pollution is the number one environmental cause of health impacts with significant morbidity effects and estimates of up to 300 000 premature deaths per year. It also generates social impacts as it disproportionally affects vulnerable groups like children, the elderly, people with pre-existing conditions or socioeconomically disadvantaged. Additional there are environmental impacts and economic impacts, as it causes annual costs of several hundreds of billions €. In the different regions exist several regulations like e.g. in the EU Directives 2004/107/CE & 2008/50/CE, in the US the Clean Air Act and national regulations like the Air Quality Executive Regulations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In the EU the Air quality Directive was revised and will be published at the beginning of 2025. It will request lower Limit Values for pollutants as fine particulate matter PM2.5, particulate matter PM10, NO2 and SO2. For the provision of air quality data for the authorities and the public exits the so-called Air Quality Index (AQI). The European Air Quality Index allows users to understand more about air quality where they live, work or travel. It displays up-to-date information about Europe. The users can gain insight into the air quality in individual countries, regions and cities. The Index is based on concentration values for up to five key pollutants, including PM2.5, PM2.5, ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2). In Europe the index is calculated hourly for more than 3.500 and in the US for more than 4.000 air quality monitoring stations. In the Middle East region is an interest to increase the density of air quality monitoring stations to provide more data for national AQI information. This presentation will give an overview of air quality regulation in Europe, the US and some Middle East countries. It will give information about the revision of the EU Air Quality Directive and will explain how the AQI is calculated. Additional it will give information about the used measurement technologies which are used.