Improving European Air Quality: Placing healthy cities higher on the EU agenda

The Urban Agenda for the EU – consolidated with the Pact of Amsterdam, agreed on 30 May 2016 by the EU Ministers responsible for Urban Matters – has introduced a new working method of thematic Partnerships being elaborated by partners representing various governance authorities aiming to tackle social challenges by focussing on cities. It aims to promote cooperation between Member States, Cities, the European Commission and other stakeholders, in order to stimulate growth, liveability and innovation in the cities of Europe. The Partnership on Air Quality is one of the 12 priority themes of the “Urban Agenda for the EU”.

The main objective of the Partnership on Air Quality is to improve air quality in cities and bring the ‘healthy city’ higher on the local, national and EU agendas as part of the Urban Agenda. This will be done through contribution to policy assessment in the consultation phase, and to improvement the development and/or of implementation of regulation, funding mechanisms and knowledge at all levels, as well as the coordination between them.