Clean Air for All by 2030? Air Quality in the 2030 Agenda and in International Law

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12151
• Date: 01 April 2016
• Author: Philipp Schönberger,Birgit Lode,Patrick Toussaint
• Published date: 01 April 2016

Clean Air for All by 2030? Air Quality in the 2030

Agenda and in International Law

Birgit Lode,* Philipp Sch€

onberger and Patrick Toussaint

Air pollution poses one of the greatest human health

threats in the twenty-f‌irst century, accounting for an

estimated 7 million premature deaths annually. In the

light of this, global efforts to promote clean air are ever

more important and should feature among the key pri-

orities on the agenda of the international community.

The universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Develop-

ment, adopted in September 2015 by the United

Nations General Assembly, offers an important oppor-

tunity to tackle air pollution at a global scale. Stressing

the importance of air pollution as a human health haz-

ard, this article examines to what extent air quality is

covered by the 17 Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs), and provides an analysis of the added value of

the 2030 Agenda vis-

a-vis existing international regu-

latory instruments addressing air pollution. Even

though the SDGs do not include a stand-alone goal on

air quality, the article concludes that the 2030 Agenda,

by establishing clean air as an integral element of the

principle of sustainable development, not only consti-

tutes an important contribution to international

(hard) law focusing on the atmosphere, but also sets

out a much needed complementary pathway of tack-

ling the issue in the absence of a global agreement on

air pollution.

INTRODUCTION

For many low- and middle-income countries, air pollu-

tion reaching hazardous levels is commonplace. This is

not only limited to indoor air pollution,

1

but the situa-

tion with respect to outdoor air pollution can also be

severe. To give but one example, in November 2015 the

United States embassy in Beijing, China reported that

the level of f‌ine particulate matter (PM

2.5

) harmful to

human health had exceeded 400 micrograms per cubic

metre (lg/m

3

)

2

–more than 17 times the level the

World Health Organization (WHO) considers to be

safe.

3

Both indoor and outdoor air pollution are much

less severe in Europe, which has one of the most mod-

ern and comprehensive sets of environmental stand-

ards in the world. Looking at a time span from the

1970s to the present day, in Europe emissions of specif‌ic

air pollutants have been reduced signif‌icantly.

4

Yet,

even in Europe reducing air pollution remains impor-

tant. Here, too, air pollutant concentrations are still

higher than recommended for the protection of human

health, with a signif‌icant proportion of Europe’s popula-

tion living in areas, especially cities, where exceedances

of air quality standards occur.

5

It is in the light of this reality that the United Nations

Environment Programme’s (UNEP) new Governing

Council, the United Nations Environment Assembly

(UNEA),

6

at its f‌irst session in June 2014 in Nairobi,

Kenya, adopted a resolution on air quality, noting that

air pollution contributes to 7 million premature deaths

each year globally, a burden of disease that, by now,

may exceed the burdens of malaria, tuberculosis and

AIDS combined. Moreover, it highlighted the need to

build upon existing global, regional and sub-regional

cooperative efforts on air pollution.

7

Less than one year

later, the WHO’s World Health Assembly in May 2015

adopted a resolution addressing the health impact of air

* Corresponding author: Birgit Lode.

Email: birgit.lode@iass-potsdam.de

1

See WHO, Burden of Disease from the Joint Effects of Household

and Ambient Air Pollution for 2012 (WHO, 2014), found at: <http://

www.who.int/phe/health_topics/outdoorair/databases/AP_jointeffect_

BoD_results_March2014.pdf>; UNEP, ‘Post 2015 Note #3: Human

Health and the Environment’ (April 2014), found at: <http://www.unep.

org/roap/Portals/96/UNEP-Post-2015-Note-3.pdf>; J. Lelieveld et al.,

‘The Contribution of Outdoor Air Pollution Sources to Premature

Mortality on a Global Scale’, 525:7569 Nature (2015), 367.

2

See ‘Chinese Authorities Boost Smog Alert Level in Beijing’, BBC

News (29 November 2015), found at: <http://www.bbc.com/news/

world-asia-china-34957373>and T. Phillips, ‘Airpocalypse Now:

China Pollution Reaching Record Levels’, The Guardian (9 November

2015).

3

WHO, Air Quality Guidelines for Particulate Matter, Ozone, Nitrogen

Dioxide and Sulfur Dioxide: Global Update 2005: Summary of Risk

Assessment (WHO, 2006), found at: <http://apps.who.int/iris/

bitstream/10665/69477/1/WHO_SDE_PHE_OEH_06.02_eng.pdf>.

4

European Environment Agency (EEA), The European Environment –

State and Outlook 2015: Synthesis Report (EEA, 2015),at 21.

5

EEA, ‘Air Pollution’, found at: <http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/

air/intro>.

6

See Change of the Designation of the Governing Council of the Unit-

ed Nations Environment Programme (UNGA Resolution A/RES/67/

251, 7 March 2013) which formally changed the designation of

UNEP’s Governing Council to the ‘United Nations Environment

Assembly’.

7

UNEA Resolution 1/7, Strengthening the Role of the United Nations

Environment Programme in Promoting Air Quality, in: Proceedings of

the United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Envi-

ronment Programme at its f‌irst session, Annex I (UNEP/EA.1/10,

2 September 2014).

ª2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.

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RECIEL 25 (1) 2016. ISSN 2050-0386 DOI: 10.1111/reel.12151

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