Preface
The book reports in a handy but systematic way an extended survey across many
European countries on the research activities and the current air quality plans at
regional and local level. This allowed us to develop an Integrated Assessment
Modelling (IAM) framework, to catalogue current approaches and to guide their
implementation and evolution.
Integrated Assessment (IA) air pollution tools bring together data on pollutant
sources (emission inventories), their contribution to atmospheric concentrations and
human exposure, with information on emission reduction measures and their
respective implementation costs. At the continental scale, such tools have been
developed in the recent years to tackle these issues in a structured way. At the
local/urban scale, however, only few IA systems have been developed and they
have generally been used for non-reactive species. Thus, their application to suggest
optimal policies to reduce secondary pollutants (i.e. those created in the atmosphere
through chemical reactions of primary pollutants and currently those more affecting
the air quality in European cities) has still relevant limitations.
The survey was performed within the APPRAISAL project (www.appraisal-fp7.eu)
one of the projects of the 7th EU Framework Programme that analysed the situation and
perspective of air pollution management in Europe. In particular, APPRAISAL’s
survey was aimed at understanding the degree at which the Integrated Assessment
approach to air quality problems is adopted by regional authorities, on the one side, and
researchers, on the other. More precisely, it involved the following:
• a review of the modelling methodologies in place across EU member states to
identify sources and to assess the effectiveness of emission reduction measures
at all scales (including downscaling of impacts to city level which are a main
concern with respect to compliance with the requested limit values),
• a review of the methodologies to assess the effects of local and regional
emission abatement measures on human health,
• a review of monitoring data and complementary methodologies, e.g. source
apportionment, to identify their potential synergies in a general integrated
assessment frame,
v
The book reports in a handy but systematic way an extended survey across many
European countries on the research activities and the current air quality plans at
regional and local level. This allowed us to develop an Integrated Assessment
Modelling (IAM) framework, to catalogue current approaches and to guide their
implementation and evolution.
Integrated Assessment (IA) air pollution tools bring together data on pollutant
sources (emission inventories), their contribution to atmospheric concentrations and
human exposure, with information on emission reduction measures and their
respective implementation costs. At the continental scale, such tools have been
developed in the recent years to tackle these issues in a structured way. At the
local/urban scale, however, only few IA systems have been developed and they
have generally been used for non-reactive species. Thus, their application to suggest
optimal policies to reduce secondary pollutants (i.e. those created in the atmosphere
through chemical reactions of primary pollutants and currently those more affecting
the air quality in European cities) has still relevant limitations.
The survey was performed within the APPRAISAL project (www.appraisal-fp7.eu)
one of the projects of the 7th EU Framework Programme that analysed the situation and
perspective of air pollution management in Europe. In particular, APPRAISAL’s
survey was aimed at understanding the degree at which the Integrated Assessment
approach to air quality problems is adopted by regional authorities, on the one side, and
researchers, on the other. More precisely, it involved the following:
• a review of the modelling methodologies in place across EU member states to
identify sources and to assess the effectiveness of emission reduction measures
at all scales (including downscaling of impacts to city level which are a main
concern with respect to compliance with the requested limit values),
• a review of the methodologies to assess the effects of local and regional
emission abatement measures on human health,
• a review of monitoring data and complementary methodologies, e.g. source
apportionment, to identify their potential synergies in a general integrated
assessment frame,
v