Under the National Emission Ceilings (NEC) Directive, EU Member States have individual emission limits, dubbed “ceilings”, that were to be achieved by 2010 for four different pollutants: sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), ammonia (NH3) and non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC).

An early analysis of the official data shows that 11 Member States breached at least one ceiling in 2012, compared to 10 countries in 2011. As in previous years, the most commonly breached ceiling was nitrogen oxide (NOx), with nine Member States exceeding their designated levels. The EAA said that road transport contributes around 40% of total EU NOx emissions and is one of the main factors behind the large number of NOx exceedances – reductions from this sector over the last two decades have not been as large as originally anticipated.

Hans Bruyninckx, EEA executive director, said: ‘Air pollution is still a very real problem – just look at the high concentrations of air pollution recently seen across large areas of western Europe. We need to improve this situation by making further emissions cuts. While new technologies and practices can help, we also need to encourage individuals to take action, for example by encouraging alternatives to car use.’

The data show that several countries have persistent problems meeting their national emission limits – for example, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg and Spain breached NOx ceilings in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Denmark and Finland have exceeded the NH3 ceilings for three years running. Despite multiple breaches of the ceilings, emissions of all four pollutants have decreased in the EU overall between 2011 and 2012.

Last month, it was announced that the European Commission has launched legal proceedings against the UK for illegal levels of harmful air pollution and failing to meet nitrogen dioxide limits set out in the 2008 EU Air Quality Directive.

A detailed assessment of the data delivered by the Member States will be published by the EEA around June.