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Indicator Specification
Ozone is a greenhouse gas, but ground level ozone is primarily an air pollutant, which is of high concern in Europe. Concentrations of ground-level ozone are determined by both precursor emissions and meteorological conditions, which also influence the transport of ozone and its precursors between continents. Ground-level ozone is highly reactive and therefore harmful to vegetation, materials and human health. Short-term, high-level exposure can cause breathing problems and lung diseases, trigger asthma, and reduce lung function. The estimated effects of excessive exposure to ozone (exceeding the threshold of 70 μg/m3) include about 20 000 premature deaths , and 14 000 respiratory hospital admissions every year in the EU25, and up to 108 million person-days with minor activity restrictions, respiratory medication use, cough or lower respiratory symptoms. Evidence of chronic effects (asthma and lung development) of long-term exposure to high ozone levels is still limited). There is a scarce evidence that high ozone levels can further increase mortality during heat waves.
In April 2013 the European Commission presented the EU Adaptation Strategy Package (http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/adaptation/what/documentation_en.htm). This package consists of the EU Strategy on adaptation to climate change /* COM/2013/0216 final */ and a number of supporting documents. One of the objectives of the EU Adaptation Strategy is Better informed decision-making, which should occur through Bridging the knowledge gap and Further developing Climate-ADAPT as the ‘one-stop shop’ for adaptation information in Europe. Further objectives include Promoting action by Member States and Climate-proofing EU action: promoting adaptation in key vulnerable sectors. Many EU Member States have already taken action, such as by adopting national adaptation strategies, and several have also prepared action plans on climate change adaptation.
The European Commission and the European Environment Agency have developed the European Climate Adaptation Platform (Climate-ADAPT, http://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/) to share knowledge on observed and projected climate change and its impacts on environmental and social systems and on human health; on relevant research; on EU, national and subnational adaptation strategies and plans; and on adaptation case studies.
No targets have been specified.
Observations are shown from AirBase (The European air quality database).
A three-dimensional Chemistry Transport Model was used to study the meteorologically induced interannual variability and trends in concentrations of surface ozone over Europe during 1958–2001.
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Attribution of health effects to climate change is difficult due to the complexity of interactions, and potentially modifying effects of a range of other factors (such as land use changes, public health preparedness, and socio-economic conditions). Criteria for defining a climate-sensitive health impact are not always well identified and their detection sometimes relies on complex statistical or modelling studies (e.g. health impacts of heat waves). Furthermore, these criteria as well as the completeness and reliability of observations may differ between regions and/or institutions, and they may change over time. Data availability and quality is crucial in climate change and human health assessments, both for longer term changes in climate-sensitive health outcomes, and for health impacts of extreme events. The monitoring of climate-sensitive health effects is currently fragmentary and heterogeneous. All these factors make it difficult to identify significant trends in climate-sensitive health outcomes over time, and to compare them across regions. In the absence of reliable time series, more complex approaches are often used to assess the past, current or future impacts of climate change on human health.
Further information on uncertainties is provided in Section 1.7 of the EEA report on Climate change, impacts, and vulnerability in Europe 2012 (http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/climate-impacts-and-vulnerability-2012/)
No uncertainty has been specified
Work specified here requires to be completed within 1 year from now.
Work specified here will require more than 1 year (from now) to be completed.
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For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/air-pollution-by-ozone-1 or scan the QR code.
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