Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations in European cities: spatial and sector-specific contributions and costs of premature deaths

Figure 1. Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations in European cities: spatial and sector-specific contributions and costs of premature deaths

The calculations are based on the SHERPA (Screening for High Emission Reduction Potential on Air quality) tool and the CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) regional anthropogenic emission inventory from 2019. In addition, for each city, the number of premature deaths due to PM2.5 exposure is provided in terms of total years of life lost, based on the EEA’s burden of disease calculations. This is accompanied by the economic cost of these years of life lost, estimated using a value of a life-year (VOLY) at 111,470 € for 2021. 

Material and method 

The dashboard presents the sectorial and spatial contributions of emissions to the yearly average background concentrations in PM2.5 within cities. These contributions were calculated by the Joint Research Centre. The JRC’s data includes European cities as defined by Eurostat Urban Audit, 12 sectors defined based on the gridded nomenclature for reporting (GNFR), and considers both primary and secondary PM2.5 from NH3, NMVOC, NOx and SOx precursors. 

These contributions are combined with the Air Quality Health Risk Assessments (HRA) calculated for core cities by the EEA for the year 2021 based on average concentrations. 

The analysis makes two main assumptions: 

1. The relative contributions of spatial sources and sectors of activities to PM2.5 concentrations are assumed to be the same as the relative contributions to mortality estimates (i.e. the toxicity profiles of the different sector emissions are assumed to be similar).

2. In their methodology, the JRC estimates the spatial and sectorial contributions for the point with the highest simulated PM2.5 concentration in cities. The contributions estimated by SHERPA are assumed representative of the entire city. 

The years of life lost within each city are converted into a cost, using the value of a life-year for 2021. VOLY is applied to the number of years of life lost (YLL), which takes into account the age at which people died. The YLL and associated cost thus increase as the share of younger people dying from the impacts of air quality increases. The VOLY value applied is of 111,470 € as also used in other EEA externality calculations.