Abstract

Public authorities have been working together to improve air quality through the National Air Quality Cooperative Programme (NSL) since 2009. The monitoring, among other things, is intended to ascertain whether the Netherlands is in compliance with European limit values and whether additional measures are needed to achieve compliance as quickly as possible. Each year, RIVM reports on concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter in the air. The 2021 Monitoring Report shows that further improvements were made in terms of air quality in 2020.

For the first time, the Netherlands complies with the European limit values for nitrogen dioxide with regard to road traffic. This is because the concentrations of nitrogen dioxide at roads were below these limit values across the Netherlands in 2020.

This was not the case for particulate matter. In 2020, a small 100-metre section of road in Velsen exceeded the limit value, which was not the case along roads across the rest of the Netherlands. The limit value for particulate matter was also exceeded at certain residential locations in areas with intensive livestock farms.

The low concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter are due to a number of factors, including the measures relating to the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The pandemic resulted in less traffic and economic activity both within and outside the Netherlands, therefore resulting in reduced emissions. This effect is likely to be temporary. It is unclear as to whether this effect will disappear altogether once the measures are lifted.

Air quality, however, is expected to continue improving in the coming years due to the fact that road traffic, industry and livestock farms will emit less nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter. New cars, for example, are becoming cleaner or electric. In addition, the number of ‘low emission zones’ in cities, for example, where only a limited number of fossil fuel vehicles are allowed to circulate or which are exclusively reserved for electric cars, are on the rise.

Clean air is crucial to public health. Air pollution is still harmful, even at concentrations below the European limit values. That is why the Government has drafted the Clean Air Agreement (Schone Lucht Akkoord, SLA) aimed at further improving air quality in the Netherlands up to 2030. National government, the provinces and various
municipalities have endorsed the initiative and put relevant agreements in place.

In 2020, the Netherlands was in compliance with the guideline values for nitrogen dioxide recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2005 – this was not the case for particulate matter. In September 2021, the WHO announced new, lower guideline values for nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter. Concentrations exceed these guideline values in large parts of the Netherlands and it is up to the Government to determine whether and how the Netherlands intends to comply with these values.