New WHO air quality guidelines released

The World Heath Organisation has released updated air quality guidelines 

Most air quality standards, targets and standards, including those from the EU come from the WHO recommendations. 

The last update was in 2005, and the current update takes into account new information.

The recommended Air Quality Guidelines (AQG) also have Interim Targets, to recognise the fact that reaching the AQG level may be challenging for many countries.

The current EU Limit Values are circled, however, the annual PM10 level is with 3-4 exceedences a year, rather than the current 35, making the new level significantly tighter. Where there is no circle, this is a new guideline level.

The report also talked about the other PM types, notably Black / Elementary Carbon (BC/EC), Ultra Fine Particles (UFP) and sand and dust storms (SDS). For these there is currently still insufficient evidence to set a standard, but good practice statements are outlined on reducing levels and data collection to enable more understanding towards standards on these, if they are relevant.

Source WHO

For more information on the WHO air quality Guidelines here, and the report itself.

Picture Source: WHO

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