Pollution: air quality is improving again in France

We breathe better and better in France, at least globally. According to data published Monday by the Interprofessional Technical Center for the Study of Atmospheric Pollution (Citepa), emissions of atmospheric pollutants began to fall again last year, while they had increased in 2021.

This is particularly true for nitrogen oxides (NOx) or fine particles, linked to automobile traffic, and which the low emission zones (ZFE) are supposed to combat. NOx emissions have thus fallen from 756 to 726 kilotonnes per year (kt/year) in 2022, i.e. a drop of 4%, after having climbed by 2.6% the previous year.

Economic reasons

Same trend for emissions of fine particles, which decreased by 10.5% after having increased by 9.9% in 2021 (diameter less than 2.5 microns), or those of non-methane volatile organic compounds NMVOCs (-3 .9% versus +3.5%). Finally, emissions of ammonia (NH3), which had declined in 2021 (-2.3%), stagnated last year (-0.3%).

“Emissions of many air pollutants have fallen dramatically since 1990 as a result of regulations: heavy metals, lead, hexachlorobenzene or chromium, for example. These have reached a low point and are no longer falling much, comments Colas Robert, expert at Citepa. For the others, the decline resumed last year, after a slight rebound linked to the post-health crisis effect and the resumption of activity in industry or transport. »

If the reduction in the fleet of cars equipped with diesel engines, observed in recent years, has had a mechanical effect on NOx emissions, the evolution of polluting emissions has also had economic reasons: the harsh winter of 2021 caused a increase in residential wood heating – and therefore fine particle emissions -, before falling the following year with a milder winter.

According to Citepa, France met the thresholds set by the EU last year (in a 2016 directive), in particular. But it still has progress to make to reach the objectives set for 2030.

France’s convictions

“This trend is going in the right direction,” notes Tony Renucci, managing director of the Respire ociation specializing in air quality. “But be careful, the thresholds set by European regulations remain much higher than those of the WHO: this compliance does not mean that there is no impact on health! »

“Furthermore, it is the concentration levels that measure the quality of the air we breathe. However, these certainly depend on emissions, but also on other factors such as weather conditions or geography, ”recalls the expert. Ozone pollution, which depends on NOx emissions under the action of high temperatures, has thus not weakened.

Citepa agrees, recalling that France has been condemned twice by the European Court of Justice, in 2019 and in 2022, as well as by the Council of State in October 2022, for having exceeded the allowed concentrations on NOx (more precisely nitrogen dioxide, or NO2) or fine particles. “As regards concentrations, we still see overruns in certain urban areas”, emphasizes Colas Robert.

Insufficient decarbonization

Citepa also published on Monday the final figure for France’s greenhouse gas emissions for 2022 (excluding imported emissions), very slightly different from the figure published at the beginning of April: it finally comes to 403.8 million tonnes (at instead of 408 million).

Even if France meets the target it had set for 2022 (410 million tonnes), the corresponding drop (-2.7%) is however both of questionable quality (with exceptional effects such as very mild weather and the shutdown of the most gas-intensive factories) and insufficient to allow France to achieve the necessary decarbonization in 2030 and 2050.

Elisabeth Borne recognized it herself on May 22, by presenting its plan to decarbonize France by 2030 : it has set the target at 270 million tonnes by this time. “This trajectory leads to a necessary reduction of 4.1% per year between 2022 and 2030, i.e. double the reduction observed over the period 2019-2022”, recalls Citepa.

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