The first Zero Pollution Monitoring and Outlook 2022 announced in the Zero Pollution Action Plan of 2021 was published on 8 December 2022. A Commission Report summarises the findings of the European Environment Agency (EEA) – Zero pollution monitoring assessment – and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) – Zero pollution outlook 2022 – and was published together with the Third Clean Air Outlook Report.

The conference included a plenary session and three parallel ‘deep dive’ sessions; one on ‘Zero Pollution & Health’, one on ‘Zero Pollution & Biodiversity’ and one on ‘Zero Pollution and Circular Economy’.

The plenary session included video messages from Executive Vice-President Timmermans (opening) and Commissioner Sinkevičius (closing). Timmermans presented the ambitious Commission actions towards zero pollution in the wider framework of the Green Deal agenda helping to deliver climate neutrality and deployment of renewable energy. The Commissioner underlined that there was no excuse not to act and called on the international partners and Member States to take decisions on the basis of this evidence.

In their keynote presentations, Hans Bruyninckx, Executive Director of the European Environment Agency and Bernard Magenhann, Deputy Director General of the Joint Research Centre presented their respective work and highlighted that:

• The Zero Pollution Monitoring and Outlook 2022 report shows that progress towards the six targets for 2030 is mixed. Stronger action is needed to reach them.
• The trend lines of the indicators show that without reconsidering our systems we will not get there. Only if the approach is systemic can these 2030 targets be reached.
• Zero pollution is connected to many other elements like biodiversity and climate neutrality, and plays a crucial role in the European Green Deal.
• The current political environment poses a challenge to reach zero pollution. However, the Zero Pollution Monitoring and Outlook 2022 report shows that we cannot afford to deviate from our green paths. This is crucial for our health and biodiversity, but also essential for our economy.

The panel discussion with some members of the Zero Pollution Stakeholder Platform and the participants had the following key takeaway messages:

• A solid basis for the policy agenda: Stakeholders generally welcomed the reports presenting a solid evidence base for ambitious action. They show that progress has been made, but also that more has to be done and can be done.
• A need for further research: The reports provide sufficient evidence to act, but there is still need for further research.
• Work must be done on all governance levels to deliver on the zero pollution targets.
• Support is needed from stakeholders for a systemic perspective to tackle pollution and the importance of ensuring policy integration and coherence targeting pollution at the source.
• Frequently mentioned as well were the inequalities surrounding exposure to dangerous pollution levels, the need for citizen science in identifying the right solutions, and the underrepresentation of certain issues such as noise and light pollution.

Deep dive session 1 – Zero Pollution and Health

Following the EEA presentation by Ian Marnane of the health aspects of the Zero Pollution Monitoring Assessment, and the DG ENV presentation by Vivian Andre on the health aspects from the Zero Pollution Outlook focussing on the Third Clean Air Outlook, stakeholders emphasised the urgency to act on the health risks associated with pollution.

Deep dive session 2 – Zero Pollution and Biodiversity

Following the EEA presentation by Catherine Ganzleben of the biodiversity aspects of the Zero Pollution Monitoring Assessment, and the JRC presentation by Jann Martinsohn on the biodiversity aspects from the Zero Pollution Outlook, pollution was identified as one of the five threats to biodiversity loss, notably due to its strong interactions with other environmental crises.

Deep dive session 3 – Zero pollution and Circular Economy

Following the EEA presentation by Daniel Montalvo on the production and consumption aspects of the Zero Pollution Monitoring Assessment, and the JRC presentation by Serenella Sala on the consumption footprint outlook as part of the Zero Pollution Outlook, 75% of the participants expressed that circular economy policies will be fundamental or very impactful to achieve the zero pollution ambition and 58% said that ‘ecodesign for sustainable products’ has the biggest potential to help achieve that.

In all three “deep dive” sessions, participants had the opportunity to propose issues for further improvement of the Zero Pollution Outlook 2024 including, e.g. (non-exhaustive examples, full list available in Slido report, see below):

• Quality of mental health connected to the environment
• Use of citizen science
• Pollution caused by the EU abroad
• Indoor Air Quality
• Light pollution

More information:

• Zero Pollution Stakeholder Conference
• The presentations from the Conference and the Slido online infographics on the feedback from participants are available online. The recording from the sessions is also available:

• Morning plenary session
• Deep Dive 1 on Zero Pollution & Health
• Deep Dive 2 on Zero Pollution & Biodiversity
• For Deep Dive 3 on Zero Pollution & Circular Economy, unfortunately there were some technical issues on the day of the event, therefore a recording is not made available.

• Zero Pollution Monitoring and Outlook Report (COM(2022) 674) 
• Zero Pollution targets website 
• EEA Zero pollution monitoring assessment  
• JRC Zero pollution outlook 2022  
• Third Clean Air Outlook Report and underpinning study