Europe Chapter Reports

Past Work Reports

Current Work Report: December - February 2022

Organization

The European chapter, including elected and associated members, has continued its work with monthly conference calls and committee interactions.

Currently the Chapter consists of 7 elected members. We have increased our group of associated members to 15 including our newest member Rajini Nagrani from the University of Bielefeld, Germany. One of our associate members, Zorana Andersen, was just elected to serve in the ISEE Main Council and is the new liaison between ISEE Europe and the main ISEE.

Activities surrounding the revisions of the Air Quality Directive in Europe

The EU Commission is currently revising the Air Quality Directive to align them more closely with the recommendations of the World Health Organization. In close collaboration with the ISEE Policy committee, ERS and many others, we continue to inform the revisions of the EU Air Quality Directive.

We have filled in the latest targeted survey questionnaire early February to inform the revision of the Ambient Air Quality Directives, which was specifically disseminated to targeted stakeholders, including competent authorities at different levels, private sector organizations, academics and civil society organizations. Several members of ISEE Europe will actively engage in the second stakeholder meeting organized by DG Environment and held in Brussels on April 4.

We are currently developing a strategic plan how ISEE Europe can best influence the revisions of the EU Air Quality Directive. To this end, we have held strategic meetings with Brian Ward (ERS), Sophie Perroud (HEAL) and Alberto Rocamora (ISGlobal). Moreover, we are planning another strategic meeting on March 2 to discuss health impact assessment activities in Europe that relate to the ongoing revision of the Air Quality Directive and beyond. We will be joined by Michael Holland (EMRC), Zbigniew Klimont and Gregor Kiesewetter (both from IIASA), Dorota Jarosinska (WHO Bonn), Michal Krzyzanowski (Imperial College), Ebba Malmqvist (Airclim), Bert Brunekreef (Utrecht University), Francesco Forastiere (Imperial College) and others.

We plan to target both the Commission as well as Member States. The expectation is that the draft Directive (expected before the end of 2022) will be ambitious, and that the real attempts to water down the proposal will be at the Member State level. Germany, France, and the country that holds the presidency (rotates every 6 months) are important targets, as well as the conservative Member States, such as Poland and Hungary. The latter aligns well with ISEE Europe’s effort to engage more in those South and Eastern European countries (see below).

A key event will be a high-level meeting in Brussels with policymakers and stakeholders regarding the air quality guidelines and showcasing the latest data since the WHO review in demonstrating the health effects of low-level air pollution. We are in the early planning stage of such a meeting (currently looking to schedule at late Spring), which would be of a similar structure as the very successful joint meeting we had in January 2020.

Continued work in Eastern Europe

Continuing our engagement in activities to improve research and environmental health in Eastern Europe –an overarching aim of the Chapter - we have continued to collaborate with HEI in the organization in a series of webinars during the fall and following spring. ISEE Europe cohosted a third webinar on December 1 entitled “Status of air quality & health data streams – accessibility and usability across southeast Europe”. The meeting was well attended and is now also available online.

Moreover, ISEE Europe and HEI has submitted a symposium for ISEE 2022 in Athens on Air Pollution and Health: The Case of Central and Southeast Europe. Countries in this region experience very high exposures to air pollution but often receive very limited attention in the global air pollution discourse. Furthermore, there is limited but growing engagement from public health researchers and practitioners in the field of environmental health, including epidemiology. The symposium will highlight the current state of science in the region as well as current and future opportunities for research collaboration. In doing so, the symposium aims to both showcase researchers from the region and foster engagement and collaboration in environmental epidemiology and promote participation in ISEE from Southeast Europe.

Finally, we are planning a second online network event for the Eastern Europe region this spring, again with the overarching aim to foster environmental health research and collaboration. More information will be shared soon, and we are planning to advertise this event widely.

Webinar Series on Climate Change and Health

The health arguments for climate mitigation and adaptation are compelling, with important near-term health benefits. COP26 is just the beginning of massive engagement by the health community, and ISEE Europe is actively working towards a wider engagement. We have held successful earlier webinars on various climate change and health topics. The next and final webinar in this series is planned for May 3 on new communication and visualization tools. Details will be posted on the ISEE Europe Website and will be widely disseminated shortly.

Education and Communication

We will publish our Spring newsletter late March. They will be sent to all ISEE Europe members top keep them abreast of the latest activities. We continuously revamp our website to keep it up to date with the latest information.