Air pollution remains the top environmental risk to health in Europe, with 97% of the urban population breathing air which is considered unhealthy. This results in hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and hundreds of billions of euros of costs annually.

Everyone is vulnerable to harm caused by air pollution and our level of vulnerability is outside of individual control, as it evolves with age, health condition, socio-economic status, as well as where we live, study, or work.

There is a large body of evidence showing that air pollution is a cause for all major non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, stroke, diabetes, dementia, and lung cancer, as well as acute respiratory infections, with growing evidence on adverse impacts on mental and neurological health.

The most vulnerable among us to the health impacts of air pollution are pregnant women, children, the elderly, those with pre-existing health conditions or facing socio-economic health inequities.

Air pollution and climate change are interlinked: the burning of fossil fuels leads to substantial emissions of air pollutants and greenhouses gases. Recent evidence highlights that air pollution worsens the health impacts of heatwaves on respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. At the same time, prolonged heatwaves lead to higher air pollution.

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