Climate Politics
EU Targets ‘Zero Pollution’ by 2050 to Curb Premature Deaths
- Bloc wants to set pollution limits close to WHO guidelines
- New measures also aim to tackle pollution in EU fresh water
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The European Union’s executive arm laid out plans to drastically cut pollution levels across the bloc, potentially eliminating more than 70% of the 300,000 premature deaths annually over the next decade.
The measures announced Wednesday by the European Commission include an overhaul of the bloc’s air-pollution regulation, in an effort to bring the EU closer to guidelines laid out by the World Health Organization. That includes a target to cut the annual limit of fine particulate matter -- the main pollutant -- by more than half by the end of the decade.