Tackling air pollution: towards an adequate legal protectionPhD student: Mr K. Pedrosa
Promotor: B. Vanheusden
Duration: 1/10/2018 - 30/9/2022
Abstract:
Tackling air pollution poses a major challenge for modern societies. The negative effects on health and environment are well-documented and have resulted in the adoption of a plethora of policies and regulations on the international, European, national and local level. Overall, air quality has improved to some extent following these efforts, but many EU Member States continue to breach the EU limit values and compliance with the stricter World Health Organisation (WHO) guideline values - the limit values which medical-scientific research has deemed necessary to significantly reduce health risks - remain far from being within reach for most Member States. Therefore, the EU currently fails to adequately address air pollution. However, legal research in this field is lacking at the moment. In this PhD, I focus on the central research question: "How should the law address air pollution to adequately protect human health in the EU?". The research is split in three parts: the first part is dedicated to the European framework of regulation, the second to the implementation and application in the Member States and the last to mechanisms of compliance.