Policies of struggle against air pollution. Survey commissioned by the Senate Commission for finances, July 2020

Based on interviews of representatives of public bodies and agencies, of representatives of local communities, of actors competent in air quality, and of foreign and European administrations, on a survey among French regions, and on visits of some areas notably concerned by atmospheric pollution, this public report, in its first part, indicates the major health, environmental, social and economic stakes and consequences associated with air pollution, outlines that, despite a decrease of emissions, levels of concentration of pollutants in the air remain locally a matter of concern (efficiency of the air quality control, differences of emission decrease with respect to the sectors, locally too high concentration levels), and shows that the legal framework has been strengthened while litigation risks have increased. The second part proposes a critical approach to public policies by outlining that national answers must be more consistent (problematic matching between objectives and public policies), and by discussing the increasing role of local communities (a still heterogeneous commitment, necessary articulation between national and local planning tools), and by noticing that tools are mainly regulatory ones, and that environmental taxing is still hardly used. The third part proposes measures to be implemented among the main emitting sectors: transports (limitation of the road mode, and promotion of cleaner mobilities), residential and office building (to keep on reducing emissions of fine particles which are still very high), industrial emissions (focus of public action on risks which are still poorly controlled, and on sensitive areas), and agriculture (insufficient mobilization, more constraining measures to be quickly implemented).