MARKOPOLO contributes to ExpoHealthNet’s First Joint Policy Brief on Ultrafine Particle Pollution
New scientific evidence on cardiovascular health risks supports recommendations for stronger European air quality policies.
The European research cluster ExpoHealthNet has published its first joint policy brief, “Closing the Ultrafine Particle Gap in EU Air Quality Law”, bringing together scientific evidence from seven Horizon Europe-funded research projects.
The brief highlights significant gaps in current European air quality legislation and presents evidence-based recommendations to better protect public health from ultrafine particles (UFPs) and combined environmental exposures.
New evidence highlights the urgency of action
The policy brief presents scientific findings that underline the substantial health burden associated with ultrafine particle exposure:
- 419,000 new cardiovascular disease cases annually in the EU are estimated to be attributable to ultrafine particles.
- 1.99 million premature deaths worldwide each year are estimated to be associated with UFP exposure.
- Ultrafine particle concentrations can exceed 40,000 particles per cubic centimetre in major urban areas.
Despite these findings, current EU legislation does not establish binding ambient concentration limits for ultrafine particles.
Four recommendations for stronger EU air quality policies
To address existing regulatory gaps, ExpoHealthNet identifies four key priorities:
- Regulate ultrafine particles through harmonised monitoring and appropriate air quality standards.
- Align EU air quality limits with WHO recommendations, particularly for PM2.5 (comprising UFPs).
- Address combined environmental exposures, recognising that air pollution, noise and chemical pollutants can jointly affect human health.
- Integrate advanced scientific evidence into regulatory decision-making, including innovative risk assessment methods and computational modelling.
These recommendations aim to support the upcoming review of the EU Ambient Air Quality Directive (EU 2024/2881).
MARKOPOLO’s role
As an active member of ExpoHealthNet, MARKOPOLO has contributed scientific findings on the cardiovascular effects of ultrafine particle exposure and plays a coordinating role in translating research evidence into policy recommendations.
Beyond its scientific contributions, MARKOPOLO plays an important role in coordinating science-to-policy activities within ExpoHealthNet.
Together with the ENACT project, MARKOPOLO co-leads Working Group 1 – Science for Policy and Practice, which brings together representatives from all seven ExpoHealthNet research consortia.
The working group focuses on translating scientific findings into actionable policy recommendations and identifying opportunities to integrate new evidence into European regulatory processes.
The first joint policy brief represents an important outcome of this collaborative work.
Supporting evidence-based environmental health policies
The revised EU Ambient Air Quality Directive must be transposed into national legislation by December 2026. Further policy milestones are approaching in 2028, followed by the European Commission’s review of air quality standards by the end of 2030, or earlier where substantial new scientific findings justify it.
By contributing new evidence on ultrafine particle exposure and cardiovascular health, MARKOPOLO supports ExpoHealthNet’s wider mission to connect environmental health research with policymaking.
Through interdisciplinary collaboration, the cluster aims to strengthen the scientific foundations of future air quality policies and improve the prevention of environment-related diseases.
Read the Policy Brief: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22200814
Learn more about ExpoHealthNet: https://expohealthnet.eu/
