1. Air Science Policy Forum – Dublin , 15th April 2013
Drivers, trends and pressures from emissions to air
pollution
Professor Jacqueline McGlade,
European Environment Agency

2. Climate Change
Population
Political and Social Conflict
Loss of Biodiversity
Energy
Water Security
Natural Resources
Economic Uncertainty
Urbanization and Land Use
Human Health
Security
Technology Advancements
Poverty & Inequality
Globalization
Timely, fit-for-purpose information on state of the
environment
. . . We Need Collective Intelligence and Understanding

3. Communicating about complex
science

4. • . . .
Data (D)
Indicators (I)
Assessments - combining diverse
sources of Knowledge (A)
Knowledge, understanding,
action- policy development (K)
indicators and resource accounts
citizen observatories, science
programs, information services
e-ReportingMonitoring (M)
time series and models
negotiation &
reflection
Evidence is growing rapidly

5. Monitoring Environmental Change
Coastal Erosion
Historic DroughtMicro Climate
Change
Ocean Health Index
Mineral Mining
Forests & Ozone
Biodiversity Deforestation Marine shipping &
Protected Areas
Ice-cap Melting

6. Managing Natural Resources
Ecosystem
Habitat
Forest Inventory
Forest Health
Forest
Disease
Carbon
Accounting
Oil and GasGeologic
Exploration
Water
managementMaritime
Protection
i
Coastal Ecosystems
Water Accounting
Seabed mapping

7. Responding to Natural
Disasters
Flooding
Situational
Awareness (COP)
Firestorm
Fire
Simulation
Storm
Damage
Assessment
Quake Tracking
Fukushima, Japan
Radiation Exposure
Tsunami Forecast, Earthquake
Damage Assessment
Tohoku,
Japan

8. Air pollution is falling but in some countries emissions are above ceiling limits
• 8 EU member
states had
pollutant emissions
above ceiling limits
in 2011, compared
to 12 member
states exceeding
the ceiling in 2010.
NOx emissions in 2011. Countries
coloured in green are below NOx ceiling,
those in red are above NOx ceiling.
EEA, 2013

9. Updates to science show Europe is still playing catch-up
State of air
quality
based on
‘old’
science
State of air
quality
based on
‘new’
science

10. Concentrations of particulate matter & ozone are still too high
Percentage of urban population exposed to air pollution exceeding
acceptable EU air quality standard

11. Despite reduced NOx emissions, NO2 levels remain too high

12. Transport is a major contributor to Europe’s air pollution problems
• Shipping is a major
contributor to pollution
emissions and greenhouse
gases
• Aviation contributes relatively
little to pollution but is a fast
growing industry and needs
to be closely monitored

13. Relative contribution % of shipping emissions to annual mean concentration
EEA 2013

14. Air Pilot – sharing experience to support implementation
• Local emission inventories
• Modelling activities
• Monitoring networks
• Trends and management
practices
• Information to the public

15. Multidimensional
Open Access
Usability
Data Management
Solutions
Analysis
Access
Bandwidth
Collaboration
Social Networking
Connectivity
Wireless
Networks
Predictive
Real Time
Science
Analytics
Modeling
Real Time
Tracking
Sensor Network
Measurement
Remote Sensing
Lidar
GPS
Services
Web Enabled
Collaboration
Privacy
Data
Crowdsourcing
Access
Ownership
Volume
Mobile
Distributed
Security
Computing
Visualization
Cloud
Performance
SaaS
Location Mobile
Technology Is Changing Rapidly

16. Rapid Adoption of Common Platforms
. . . Building A Global Network
Eye on Earth Global Network
UNEP Live
NGO’s – Data Basin
Indonesia SDI
US Government
Russian
Federation

17. Interoperability
NatureWatch

18. Engaging Citizens & local organisations – social media integration
Citizen Science - Watches
Social media integration
Surveillance

19. • Collected once and shared with others for many purposes
• Managed responsibly at source
• Readily available to easily fulfil legal reporting obligations
• Easily accessible for all users and available in national
languages
• Accessible to enable comparisons at the appropriate
geographical scale and to support citizen participation
• Supported through investment in common standards and
interoperable systems
SEIS Principles

20. Looking ahead to better air quality
ImpactsAirQualityEmissions
• The review of EU air legislation
in 2013 is a tremendous
opportunity
• Measures to promote air
quality, and measures to
reduce greenhouse gases are
mutually supportive
• We already know which
policies work
• The knowledge base on air
must be continually improved