NPL has a major role in the new EU co-funded project AirMonTech, which will make recommendations to the Commission on how to revise legislation covering air quality in Europe, and on what research is needed to help with this decision.

NPL guiding the future of air
quality monitoring in Europe

With increasing requirements for air pollution monitoring in Europe, and a rising number and complexity of available instruments, harmonisation and innovation of air pollution monitoring in Europe is of vital importance.

Poor air quality is responsible for many hundreds of thousands of premature deaths per year within the EU, and is a major public health concern. Improved legislation and better air quality monitoring strategies lead to better health, with the minimum necessary expense or disruption to industry.

The aim of AirMonTech project is to compile knowledge and information needed to harmonise current air pollution measurements and to guide decisions about monitoring in the future.

The project is led by the German organisation IUTA, and the partners include seven other organisations from across Europe as well as NPL:

• CSIC - Spanish National Research Councils
• ECN - Energy research Centre of the Netherlands
• EMPA - Materials and technologies for a sustainable future
• JRC European Commission
• NILU - Norwegian Institute of Air Research
• University of Athens
• University Duisburg Essen

AirMonTech is a Coordination and Support Action funded under the EU seventh framework programme: Technologies for automated monitoring of air pollution in cities. It is also part-funded by the National Measurement System (NMS), the UK's national infrastructure for measurement, which delivers world-class measurement science and technology. It is overseen by the National Measurement Office (NMO), an executive agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Contact: Paul Quincey

Find out more about NPL's work in Environmental Measurement

For further information, visit the AirMonTech project website