LIFE Programme at the Clean Air Forum: improving air quality for a cleaner Europe

EU Clean Air Forum was held from 23 to 24 November in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The event showcased the development and implementation of European, national and local air policies, projects and programmes. It was attended by high-profile EU and Dutch policymakers, including Maroš Šefčovič, Executive Vice-President, European Commission; Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for Environment, Ocean and Fisheries, Vivianne Heijnen, Minister of Environment, the Netherlands; , and Ahmed Aboutaleb, Mayor of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. 

The event was opened by Maroš Šefčovič on 23 November. His opening speech stressed that, ‘Some 300,000 people lose their lives to unclean air in the European Union, every single year. That's a shocking number, especially when you consider what it might be worldwide. Under the European Green Deal, we are working towards the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050, with zero pollution for a toxic-free environment.’ 

The LIFE Programme had a dedicated stand, co-exhibiting with the European Environmental Agency and the Joint Research Center. At the stand, visitors saw the achievements of LIFE CMCD, a project that reduced ammonia emissions and closed the nitrogen loop in dairy cattle farming. It used the new Lely RFX system on five dairy livestock farms, which saved over 24 tonnes of ammonia emissions, and has demonstrated its replicability in the Netherlands, Germany, France and Denmark.

LIFE CLINSH improved air quality in Dutch urban areas situated close to ports and inland waterways, by reducing inland waterway transport (IWT) emissions. Inland shipping strongly affects the air quality along inland waterways and inland ports, especially in bigger ports, where NOx emission can reach up to 25% of total NOx emissions in the Netherlands. The project conducted onshore air quality measurements, demonstrated and measured how emission reduction technologies, alternative fuels and Onshore Power Supply (OPS) can reduce emissions, and increased awareness among the shipping community.  

LIFE Green Ammonia is aiming to reduce ammonia (NH3) emissions from animal waste at pig and poultry farms from the atmosphere and manure storage tanks, in Spain and Portugal. The ammonia emissions for the project area are around 7.4 tonnes a year. The project will reduce these by developing, scaling up and marketing two commercial models for NH3 recovery in by-products.  

‘The EU Clean Air Forum was a very enriching experience on a personal and professional level. I was delighted to be at the centre of where all newest topics related the clean air were discussed from different perspectives: political, scientifical, civil society and personal. I was honoured to present LIFE Green Ammonia as a part of the CINEA stand,’

said Ruta Kronberga, coordinator of LIFE Green Ammonia, speaking about the event.  

More details: 

LIFE CMCD, LIFE CLINSH, and LIFE Green Ammonia align to a number of EU directives including Waste and Repealing Certain Directives, COM 2013/0918 - A Clean Air Programme for Europe,  National Emission Ceilings for Certain Atmospheric Pollutants; National Emission reduction Commitments, Directive 2010/75/EU on industrial emissions, Protection of Water Bodies against Pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources, and Directive 2000/60/EC.