ECA: ‘European cities have cleaner air but are still far too noisy’

A new report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) reveals that the European Union will probably not successfully reduce traffic noise in European cities in time.  The European target is a 30 percent noise reduction by 2030. According to calculations, this figure will fall by 19 percent in the best case and rise by 3 percent in the worst case.

Environmental noise in cities is an underestimated problem. An estimated one in five people in the EU is exposed to harmful noise levels. Long-term exposure to excessive noise levels can lead to sleep disorders, anxiety, cognitive impairment, and mental health problems.

The WHO considers environmental noise the second most significant environmental contributor to the EU’s disease burden after air pollution.

Air quality improved ‘significantly’

The study’s authors emphasize that tackling noise problems is extremely difficult because noise monitoring in most member states is poor and not up to date, and the EU has never set limit values ​​or reduction targets for noise.

They do exist, though, for urban air pollution. According to the Court, air quality in European cities has improved ‘significantly’ in recent years but is still not close to the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.

Additional efforts

Progress has been made in this area, although ten member states still exceeded the current limit values ​​for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in 2022.

“The EU and its member states must realize that ambitious targets cannot be achieved without considerable additional effort,” said Klaus-Heiner Lehne, the ECA Member responsible for the audit.

Harmful effects

Cities struggle to effectively address air and noise pollution. Reasons for this range from poor coordination by the authorities to the questionable effectiveness of measures, not to mention local resistance against them.

More than 300 million people are exposed to polluted air daily, and 90 million to chronic noise. According to the European Environment Agency, at least 250,000 people in the EU die prematurely every year from conditions linked to air pollution.

Environmental noise also harms, primarily through sleep disorders and stress, with 48,000 new cases of heart disease and 12,000 premature deaths each year.