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Country status for sulphur dioxide (SO2) in 2023

  • Two out of 37 reporting countries (EU-27 and 10 other countries; the only reporting station from Kosovo under UNSCR 1244/99 did not reach the minimum data coverage) registered levels above the EU daily limit value of 125µg/m3: Bosnia and Herzegovina (in 12 stations out of 23) and Türkiye (8 out of 225), representing 1.3% of the total reporting stations;
  • 13 countries registered values above the WHO daily guideline level of 40µg/m3 (instead of the 99 percentile, the 99.18th percentile of the daily values has been considered, meaning three days of exceedance per year). This represents 5% of reporting stations located in seven different EU Member States (Bulgaria, Czechia, France, Germany, Ireland, Poland and Spain) and six other countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia and Türkiye).

In 2024, four reporting stations registered concentrations of SO2 above the EU daily limit value: two in Italy, and one in Greece and Iceland. In the same year, concentrations above the WHO daily guideline level (again, the 99.18th percentile, instead of the 99 percentile) were registered in 32 stations (2.8% of total stations) located in 10 different EU Member States (out of 26 reporting, all except Sweden) and two (out of six reporting) other reporting countries.

Finally, concentrations for other regulated pollutants in 2023 in relation to the corresponding EU limit or target values are presented below. No 2024 data are presented due to lower carbon monoxide (CO) and benzene (C6H6) concentrations and manual sampling of the metals.

  • For CO two stations reported concentrations above the EU annual limit value. They were located in Sweden and Serbia, out of 26 reporting Member States (all except Finland) and 10 other reporting countries;
  • For C6H6 no stations reported concentrations above the EU annual limit value in the 30 reporting countries (EU-27 plus Albania, Norway and Switzerland);
  • For arsenic, seven stations reported concentrations above the EU target value. They were located in five EU Member States (Belgium, two; Finland, two; Germany, Poland and Spain, one station each) out of 30 reporting countries (EU-27 plus Norway, Serbia and Switzerland). In addition to data collected from monitoring stations, countries can also use modelling applications to assess compliance with the standards. Based on these, Poland reported exceedances of the arsenic annual target value for two air quality zones;
  • For cadmium, no stations reported concentrations above the EU annual target value in any of the 30 reporting countries (EU-27 plus Norway, Serbia and Switzerland);
  • For lead, two stations in Hungary reported concentrations above the EU annual limit value. All the other reporting countries (EU-27, except Malta, plus Norway, Serbia and Switzerland) had concentrations below that value.
  • For nickel, two stations reported concentrations above the EU target value. They were located in two EU Member States (France and Italy) out of 30 reporting countries (EU-27 plus Norway, Serbia and Switzerland).