Report on the behalf of the Commission of inquiry on the economic and financial cost of air pollution. Nr 610

After a list of 61 propositions made by the authors, this huge report first addresses air pollution as a major public health issue with multiple impacts. It proposes an overview of the progressive awareness on this issue as pollution has been considered for a long time as an unavoidable consequence of technical and industrial progress, as the emergence of air survey slowly became a priority for public authorities between 1917 and 1973, and as the struggle against atmospheric pollution is now a key issue in the prevention of climate change in a context which has become supra-national. It analyses outer air pollution: European and international definitions, status of scientific knowledge on health effects, sources of atmospheric pollution, the peculiar case of France regarding chemical pollution due to the Diesel engines, and aero-biologic pollution. It addresses inner air pollution, a hazard with many unknowns: a phenomenon which has been progressively acknowledged as a major public health problem, overview of the rather timid French legal framework. It proposes an overview of other impacts (other than on health): on vegetal and biodiversity, on the built environment, and on water. The second part addresses the economic and financial cost of air pollution. It discusses how to assess the cost of air pollution (assessment of health impacts of air pollution, assessment of health cost of air pollution). It outlines that it is a major cost which is often under-assessed. It proposes an overview of the status of the cost of air pollution in France as far as the cost for the health system, the social and economic cost, and other costs (decrease of agriculture efficiency, building degradation, policy costs, effect of the environment and loss of biodiversity, tax and regulation) are concerned. The third part of this report proposes an overview of solutions which aim at obtaining a better balance between standards and tax policy, at promoting innovation, at implementing different support actions. Hearings are reported, and an appendix addresses lessons learned from air quality issues in Europe