Health risks of air pollution in Europe – HRAPIE project. New emerging risks to health from air pollution – results from the survey of experts

This document presents the results of a survey of experts developed and conducted as part of the WHO “Health risks of air pollution in Europe – HRAPIE” project. The survey’s objective was to assess and document the views of expert stakeholders regarding “evidence of new emerging issues on risks
to health from air pollution, either related to specific source categories (e.g. transport, biomass combustion, metals industry, refineries, power production), specific gaseous pollutants or specific components of particulate matter (e.g. size-range like nano-particles and ultra-fines, rare-earth metals, black carbon (EC/OC))” via an online survey tool. The document describes the methodology applied to develop and implement the survey tool and provides a summary of the findings.

The main findings of the survey are that the majority of respondents identified the general categories of “road traffic”, “space heating and air conditioning”, and “shipping” as the top three emission source categories of concern associated with emerging issues for public health. The experts felt that fine and ultra-fine particles and their metal content are of greatest concern in relation to health effects. Some of the issues identified are not new but may not have been sufficiently recognized or given priority in the past, while their significance or importance is now coming to the fore. The experts also felt that many well-known issues still require attention. The views of the experts are generally consistent with the findings of the REVIHAAP evidence review.