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[PR07] Impacts of transport on air quality in urban areas
State

Key message
Bad

Data on air pollution shows that Slovenian cities are over-polluted with NO2 and PM10. Transport is one of the main causes of this pollution. Air quality in Slovenian cities improved during the economic recession after 2008, and after 2016 the NO2 pollution became worse again.

This indicator shows the impact of transport on air quality in urban areas, expressed as air concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM10) in the period 2002–2019 for Slovenia and in the period 2002–2017 for Europe. The calculation is based on the comparison of average annual and average maximum annual values of pollutants measured at monitoring locations that are exposed to a direct (city traffic stations) and indirect (city background stations) burden of traffic. The indicator also shows the number of times that limit values for PM10 particulates were exceeded in the period 2005–2019 in Slovenia.

 

Charts

Figure PR07-1: NO2 mean and maximum values of annual averages for traffic and urban background stations in Slovenia
Sources:

Database of automatic readings from the national network for monitoring air quality (DMKZ), Hydrology and State of the Environment office, Slovenian Environment Agency, 2019 (22. 04. 2021)

Show data
Maribor (DMKZ)[µg/m3] Ljubljana center (OMS Ljubljana)[µg/m3] Celje (EIS Celje)[µg/m3] Zagorje[µg/m3] urban station - mean[µg/m3] urban station - maximum[µg/m3] Ljubljana Bežigrad (DMKZ)[µg/m3] Celje (DMKZ)[µg/m3] Nova Gorica[µg/m3] background station - mean[µg/m3] background station - maximum[µg/m3] limit value[µg/m3]
2002 36 50 30 0 39 50 29 24 27 26.67 29 40
2003 37 59 22 0 39 59 32 27 27 28.67 32 40
2004 31 59 36 0 42 59 29 24 25 26 29 40
2005 33 59 40 0 44 59 27 26 24 25.67 27 40
2006 39 70 67 0 59 70 29 28 24 27 29 40
2007 37 66 29 0 44 66 28 23 25 25.33 28 40
2008 34 71 0 0 53 71 29 21 30 26.67 29 40
2009 32 55 0 0 44 55 31 22 28 27 31 40
2010 34 63 0 0 46 63 35 26 29 30 35 40
2011 34 55 0 0 45 55 31 25 28 28 31 40
2012 33 52 0 0 43 52 22 27 26 25 27 40
2013 32 43 20 23 29.50 43 29 26 25 26.67 29 40
2014 30 40 23 20 28.25 40 26 28 19 24.33 28 40
2015 31 36 23 25 28.75 36 30 29 22 27 30 40
2016 27 32 16 24 24.75 32 29 22 24 25 29 40
2017 27 50 22 28 31.75 50 30 28 30 29.33 30 40
2018 22 48 17 20 26.75 48 26 26 25 25.67 26 40
2019 25 45 14 20 19.67 45 25 25 26 25.33 26 40
Figure PR07-2: PM10 mean and maximum values of annual averages for traffic and urban background stations in Slovenia
Sources:

Database of automatic readings from the national network for monitoring air quality (DMKZ), Hydrology and State of the Environment office, Slovenian Environment Agency, 2019 (22. 04. 2021)

Show data
Maribor (DMKZ)[µg/m3] Celje (EIS Celje)[µg/m3] Ljubljana center (OMS Ljubljana)[µg/m3] Zagorje (DMKZ)[µg/m3] Ljubljana Gospodarsko (DMKZ)[µg/m3] Celje Mariborska (DMKZ)[µg/m3] Nova Gorica Grčna (DMKZ)[µg/m3] urban trafic station - mean[µg/m3] urban trafic station - maximum[µg/m3] Ljubljana Bežigrad (DMKZ)[µg/m3] Celje (DMKZ)[µg/m3] Ljubljana- Biotehniška fakulteta[µg/m3] Kranj[µg/m3] Novo mesto[µg/m3] Hrastnik[µg/m3] Nova Gorica[µg/m3] Koper[µg/m3] Velenje[µg/m3] Maribor Vrbanski[µg/m3] Ptuj[µg/m3] urban background station - mean[µg/m3] urban background station - maximum[µg/m3] limit value[µg/m3]
2001 48 0 0 0 0 0 0 48 48 43 45 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 46 50 40
2002 50 0 0 47 0 0 0 48.50 50 42 46 0 0 0 0 39 0 0 0 0 43.50 47 40
2003 58 51 0 51 0 0 0 53.33 58 46 53 0 0 0 0 37 0 0 0 0 47 53 40
2004 48 40 0 44 0 0 0 44 48 41 41 0 0 0 0 35 0 0 0 0 39.25 41 40
2005 43 45 0 52 0 0 0 46.67 52 37 43 0 0 0 0 34 0 0 0 0 42.25 55 40
2006 43 0 0 46 0 0 0 44.50 46 33 35 0 0 0 0 32 31 0 0 0 34.20 40 40
2007 40 0 0 41 0 0 0 40.50 41 32 32 0 0 0 0 33 29 0 0 0 32.60 37 40
2008 34 0 44 44 0 0 0 40.67 44 30 30 0 0 0 0 31 25 0 0 0 30.80 38 40
2009 30 0 48 36 0 0 0 38 48 29 31 26 0 0 0 28 23 0 0 0 28.33 33 40
2010 33 0 42 36 0 0 0 37 42 30 32 27 32 31 27 29 25 0 0 0 29.67 34 40
2011 34 0 44 37 0 0 0 38.33 44 32 35 30 30 32 30 27 27 0 26 0 30.89 35 40
2012 30 0 45 32 0 0 0 35.67 45 26 31 27 26 28 24 24 24 22 24 0 26.89 32 40
2013 30 26 41 29 0 0 0 31.50 41 24 29 26 25 27 23 22 20 21 20 0 25.11 30 40
2014 26.52 29 38 28 0 0 0 30.38 38 22.70 27.67 22.20 21.94 22.53 20.76 21.01 19.08 20 19 0 22.72 27.67 40
2015 28 35 40 32 0 0 0 33.75 40 28 32 27 26 28 24 24 23 22 21 0 26.78 32 40
2016 27 27 40 29 0 0 0 30.75 40 24 32 27 23 26 22 21 19 19 20 0 24.44 32 40
2017 28 25 33 29 29 33 25 28.86 33 25 30 25 26 27 23 23 20 21 20 26 24.58 29 40
2018 28 29 35 32 24 31 24 29 35 27 28 21 22 26 22 20 18 19 21 25 23 28 40
2019 23 24 34 25 24 29 23 26 34 21 26 19 19 21 20 20 17 17 18 22 20.17 26 40
Figure PR07-3: Number of exceedances of the daily limit value of particulate matter (50 ug/m3) for traffic and urban background stations in Slovenia
Sources:

Database of automatic readings from the national network for monitoring air quality (DMKZ). Hydrology and State of the Environment office, Slovenian Environment Agency, 2019 (22. 04. 2021)

Show data
Maribor (DMKZ)[number] Ljubljana center (OMS Ljubljana)[number] Celje (EIS Celje)[number] Celje (DMKZ)[number] Trbovlje[number] Ljubljana Bežigrad (DMKZ)[number] Ljubljana- Biotehniška fakulteta[number] Kranj[number] Novo mesto[number] Zagorje[number] Hrastnik[number] Nova Gorica[number] Koper[number] Velenje[number] Maribor Vrbanski[number] Ptuj[number] Ljubljana Gospodarsko[number] Celje Mariborska[number] Nova Gorica Grčna[number]
2005 101 0 89 97 157 70 0 0 0 143 0 37 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2006 108 0 92 59 86 47 0 0 0 106 0 47 40 0 0 0 0 0 0
2007 91 0 0 48 81 46 0 0 0 99 0 40 19 0 0 0 0 0 0
2008 54 101 0 37 72 36 0 0 0 109 0 33 11 0 0 0 0 0 0
2009 35 112 0 42 48 30 25 0 0 56 0 24 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
2010 47 74 0 58 64 43 32 37 60 68 30 25 15 0 0 0 0 0 0
2011 64 94 0 73 68 63 51 55 69 75 51 28 21 0 25 0 0 0 0
2012 34 107 0 55 65 27 21 27 45 62 17 19 23 11 8 0 0 0 0
2013 36 74 35 51 50 22 24 28 49 48 15 12 10 8 7 0 0 0 0
2014 25 55 41 41 33 19 12 12 22 38 10 19 16 15 10 0 0 0 0
2015 34 85 76 70 50 43 35 17 40 70 22 24 28 9 3 0 0 0 0
2016 43 66 45 53 38 36 40 27 41 51 25 15 11 10 21 0 0 0 0
2017 35 51 39 49 39 30 32 28 33 46 19 24 18 19 21 38 39 57 21
2018 30 51 43 35 37 28 16 13 31 55 11 6 4 2 12 25 20 45 5
2019 13 37 25 23 16 16 8 8 10 28 9 10 8 2 0 15 21 43 10
Figure PR07-4: NO2 mean values of annual averages for traffic stations in Europe, 2017
Sources:

EEA, Exceedances of air quality limit values due to traffic, 2019 (4. 06. 2021)

Figure PR07-5: NO2 mean values of annual averages for urban background stations in Europe, 2017
Sources:

EEA, Exceedances of air quality limit values due to traffic, 2019 (4. 06. 2021)

Figure PR07-6: PM10 mean values of daily averages for traffic stations in Europe, 2017
Sources:

EEA, Exceedances of air quality limit values due to traffic, 2019 (4. 06. 2021)

Figure PR07-7: PM10 mean values of daily averages for urban backround stations in Europe, 2017
Sources:

EEA, Exceedances of air quality limit values due to traffic, 2019 (4. 06. 2021)

Goals

To comply with the following limit values for ambient air concentrations of nitrogen oxides in order to protect human health and vegetation:

  • hourly NO2 concentration limit value for human health protection: 200 µg/m3 (allowed exceedance: 18 times within a calendar year);
  • annual NO2 concentration limit value for human health protection (to be met by 1 January 2010): 40 µg/m3;
  • annual critical value for plant protection: 30 µg NOx/m3. Critical value for NO2 measured in three consecutive hours at places that are representative for air quality in areas of at least 100 km2, in the entire area or in agglomerations must not exceed 400 µg/m3.

Limit values for ambient air concentration of PM10 particulates for protection of human health:

  • daily PM10 concentration limit value: 50 µg/m3 (allowed exceedance: 35 times within a calendar year);
  • annual PM10 concentration limit value: 40 µg/m3.

Methodology

Date of data source summarization
Last modified
04.06.2021
Author(s)

Aljaž Plevnik, Urban planning Institute of the RS and Nataša Kovač, Slovenian Environment Agency