Green Deal and Health: locally-led environment and climate action will save lives in EU cities and regions

Green Deal and Health: locally-led environment and climate action will save lives in EU cities and regions

​The European Committee of the Regions is urging to accelerate the implementation of the European Green Deal in partnership with local and regional authorities to respond to the health threats arising from environmental pollution and the consequences of climate change. Members adopted the recommendations drafted by Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla (ES/EPP), President of Andalusia, at the plenary session on 31 January.

The European Environment Agency has estimated that various forms of environmental pollution are responsible for one in eight deaths per year in the European Union. Alongside air and water pollution and soil degradation, longer and more frequent droughts, heatwaves and other extreme weather events and the spread of diseases linked to changing climate are posing significant threats to human health.

The European Committee of the Regions is urging to address these health threats by pushing forward with the implementation of the European Climate Law and the Fit for 55 package aimed at reducing direct CO2 emissions. It again calls for full and binding alignment of the Air Quality Directive with the 2021 WHO guidelines by 2035 and highlights the importance of the measures stemming from the Zero Pollution Action Plan, which aims to create a toxic-free environment in which air, water and soil pollution levels are no longer harmful to health and natural ecosystems. (...)