WHO – Air Quality and Health Impacts

The objectives of this Strategy align closely and will support a range of United Nations (UN) and European Union (EU) policies and obligations on climate, sustainable development, transport and energy in particular. Key policies and their relevance are set out below:

although the Trans European Network – Transport (TEN-T) focuses very much on aligning investment towards a defined set of core and comprehensive transport corridors.

WHO – Air Quality and Health Impacts

The Paris Agreement to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has a legally binding overarching goal of holding “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and in line with recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) take steps “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels”.

There are important and related international ambitions and objectives associated with countering external costs from transport, through policies on health and sustainable development in its broadest terms. The UN spearheads such ambition through its agencies such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and through its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Of particular relevance are the WHO’s updated guidelines on outdoor (ambient) air pollution levels. They include very ambitious levels for nitrogen oxides (NOx), which is the primary pollutant associated with transport, followed by particulate matter (especially PM2.5). These guidelines, which were updated in 2021, reflect how air pollution affects many aspects of health, even at low levels.

To realise this, the European Commission approved the European Green Deal in 2020, which sets out a blueprint for transformational change including the goal of becoming the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. In the same period, the EU commits to achieving a 90% reduction in transport-related greenhouse gas emissions (relative to 1990 levels). Aligned to this is the EU’s ‘Fit for 55’ package, which commits to reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. For transport, the package is primarily focused on reducing fossil fuel dependency and increasing the availability of, and infrastructure for, renewable alternatives.

Transport is a key source of harmful emissions in urban environments, and the associated impacts, particularly in cities, is the single biggest environmental threat to human health according to the WHO. Accordingly, Ireland has committed to working towards the WHO values in its Clean Air Strategy.

The EU’s Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) transforms the targets of the Clean Energy Package into binding annual climate targets for each Member State for the period 2021–2030. An amendment to the ESR came into force in May 2023. The new legislation increases the emissions reduction target for the targeted sectors including transport, from 29% to 40% by 2030, compared to 2005 levels.

There are other important international and EU level ambitions to reduce the health impacts of air pollution including:

ᴏ the EU Zero Pollution Action Plan (2021) which aims to reduce the health impacts of air pollution by 55% by 2030, compared to 2005; and

At a sectoral level, the EU’s Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy calls for decisive action to shift towards more public passenger transport like buses and trains, given the role that such modes can play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental pressures such as air pollution and noise. The EU’s Strategy also acknowledges that the share of buses and trains in total passenger transport has changed very little across Europe since 2005, albeit with fluctuation and rebound in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that a significant shift will not occur without decisive action. There is no equivalent EU strategy to address travel demand

ᴏ the new Ambient Air Quality Directive (due to be fully transposed in 2026), which sets more stringent air quality limits for all pollutants including NOx to be achieved by 2030.

Air pollutant emissions from the road transport sector are also regulated by EU emissions standards (such as the Euro emission standards for road vehicles) and fuel quality requirements. For example, the Euro 7 standard, which was adopted by the European Council in 2024, aims to further lower air pollutant emissions from exhaust fumes and brakes and will impose more stringent limits for various pollutants on heavy-duty vehicles in particular.