Concerted action needed to tackle pollution

​Greens member Marieke Schouten presented the draft opinion ‘EU Action Plan: ‘Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil’​‘ in the CoR Plenary Session on 27 January. The amended opinion was adopted unanimously. ​

The Alderman of the Dutch municipality of Nieuwegein said: ‘Expanding the amount of green and blue space in our municipalities is good for our health, good for health of the living world, and good for society. The post-pandemic recovery should focus on acknowledging the interconnectedness between human, environmental and animal health. We need to reduce pollution to levels that do not harm health at all, which means taking measures to improve the quality of our soil, air, and water. Current levels of pollution pose a real threat on human health and natural ecosystems, and the financial costs of not meeting our environmental targets – €55 billion a year – is huge.’

Read the full press statement here.​​​