Since the Brussels Capital Region introduced a low-emission zone (LEZ) in 2018, there has been a 30% reduction in nitrogen dioxide along Brussels’ main roads. Brussels Environment has also observed similar and more significant reductions for other pollutants.

Air quality in Antwerp has also improved significantly over the past decade. However, traffic remains the primary source of nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and elemental carbon (soot) there, according to the Flemish Environment Agency (Vlaamse MilieuMaatschappij, VMM).

These results confirm the findings of a recent French report that also looked at several other European countries where the LEZ has been introduced.

To WHO standards

In Brussels, the share of diesel vehicles was almost halved between June 2018 and September 2022. The result is a significant improvement in the environmental performance of the vehicle fleet, with a reduction in emissions of NOx or nitrogen oxides, PM2.5, and black carbon (two categories of particulate matter) by 31%, 30%, and 62%, respectively.

In the future, air quality in the Brussels Region should further improve. In 2022, all Brussels Environment measurement network stations met the European annual standard of 40 micrograms per cubic meter for NO2. However, that is far above the 10 micrograms per cubic meter recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Brussels Environment now says the Brussels Region wants to reach WHO standards by 2030 and ensure compliance with European standards throughout the territory. The Region will, therefore, gradually tighten the LEZ until 2035.

A new ban on diesel vehicles with Euro 5 and gasoline vehicles with Euro 2 will take effect in 2025. At that time, cars still allowed to drive in the Brussels Capital Region will emit 40% less nitrogen oxides. The phase-out of all vehicles with combustion engines is planned for 2035.

Touring calls for less stringent LEZ

Mobility organization Touring, meanwhile, is calling for a review of the planning concerning the tightening of the LEZ in Brussels. Touring believes that this reduction would have been achieved even without the LEZ, “thanks to technological progress, an increasingly greener car fleet, and increasing ecological awareness among citizens about their transport mode and frequency”. It also stresses that new restrictions will have less and less impact at increasingly higher costs.

In addition, the mobility organization also calls for exceptional measures for older people and people with reduced mobility. According to Touring, the LEZ severely limits their mobility. Touring also wants the low annual mileage of these groups to be considered to grant exceptions.

In a reaction to news agency Belga, Brussels Environment points out that a whole series of exemptions for persons with reduced mobility already exist for the LEZ. For example, owners of vehicles specifically adapted to transport disabled people or wheelchairs can benefit from this exemption for five years. Cars for people with disabilities requiring additional assistance may also qualify. The various exemptions available are listed on the Brussels Mobility website.

There are still a lot of nitrogen oxides in Antwerp

The air in Antwerp has also improved significantly over the past decade, although the impact of the LEZ’s share in that downward trend is less clear. In the Antwerp agglomeration, traffic and heating with wood are still the main sources of nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and elemental carbon (soot). And just like in Brussels, however, Antwerp, like the whole of Flanders, continues to exceed the WHO’s advisory values.

According to a new report by the Flemish Environment Agency (VMM), the introduction of the LEZ in 2017 would indeed cause black carbon concentrations in Antwerp to fall. For nitrogen dioxide, on the other hand, there are no indications that the LEZ will cause additional local decreases in concentrations.

The current limitations of the LEZ in Antwerp mainly focus on reducing soot particle emissions. Reducing nitrogen particles will only become more important from the next tightening in 2026.

Air quality assessment

Indeed, the rules on which vehicles can enter the LEZ’s in Antwerp and Ghent will not be tightened again until early 2026, a year later than planned. There will be an air quality assessment at the end of 2026, which will determine whether the proposed tightening path needs to be adjusted or whether stages can be scrapped because air quality has improved sufficiently. The Antwerp city council also doubts the further tightening of the LEZ from 2028 onward.

In 2020, exposure to PM2.5, NO2, and 03 (ozone) caused 5,330 premature deaths in Belgium, according to the latest report from the European Environment Agency. Exposure to pollutants also brings diseases and health costs.