PM2.5

Umwelt-Indikator

Indicator: Emission of air pollutants

Graph: The development of emissions of five air pollutants and an overall index relative to the base year 2005 (=100%) can be seen. The trend of all substances decreases significantly, but ammonia only since 2014. The 2030 target (55%) seems within reach.

The averaged index of air pollutants fell by 34.4% between 2005 and 2022.The obligations of the Gothenburg Protocol and the NEC Directive for 2020 were achieved.Safely meeting the commitments of the European NEC) Directive for 2030, is a challenge for the German environmental policy.Ammonia emissions must continue to be significantly reduced to achieve this. read more

Indicator: Air quality in agglomerations

Two graphs show how strongly, on average, urban background levels of three main air pollutants in German agglomerations exceeded the old and the new WHO recommendations between 2000 and 2022. The trend for the different pollutants varies. With the new, stricter WHO recommendations of 2021 for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM2.5), the distances to the target have become significantly greater. Between 2000 and 2022 the values for NO2 range between 172 and 52 %, for ozone between 44 and 39 %.

After the background level in German agglomerations exceeded the old recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO) only for the air pollutant ozone (figure left), the background level now clearly exceeds the updated WHO recommendations from 2021 also for particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide NO2 (figure right).Close to sources, pollutant levels can even be significantly higher.T... read more

The Umweltbundesamt

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