The Executive Body adopted the Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in Aarhus, Denmark, on 24 June 1998. This Protocol targets 16 substances identified based on agreed risk criteria, including 11 pesticides, two industrial chemicals, and three by-products or contaminants. Its ultimate goal is to eliminate all discharges, emissions, and losses of POPs.The Protocol bans the production an...

The Executive Body adopted the Protocol on Heavy Metals in Aarhus, Denmark, on 24 June 1998. This Protocol targets three particularly harmful metals: cadmium, lead, and mercury. One of its primary obligations requires Parties to reduce emissions of these metals to levels below those of 1990 (or an alternative year between 1985 and 1995).The Protocol focuses on reducing emissions from major sources...

PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” have emerged as a serious environmental and public health threat due to their persistence and widespread contamination. These man-made chemicals, widely utilized in consumer and industrial products since World War II, are now linked to alarming levels of contamination in drinking water supplies and health risks ranging from cancers to liver toxicity to redu...

Current unambitious climate commitments, leading the world to well over 2°C of warming, spell disaster for billions of people from global ice loss, but that damage can still be prevented, according to an assessment released today.Latest research detailed in the 2025 State of the Cryosphere Report notes thresholds likely at just 1°C of warming for the stability of the polar ice sheets, and even low...

Mitigating Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCPs), which include methane, black carbon, and hydrofluorocarbons, has great potential to limit air pollution and achieve emission reduction milestones by 2030.In this context, although Panama is one of the few countries that has achieved and even exceeded carbon neutrality due to its forest management offsetting CO2eq emissions, the country continues t...

This report specifically addresses policy makers in the field of environment and public health, and provides a state-of-the-art summary on the questions: What are ultrafine particles? Why are ultrafine particles important? Why are ultrafine particles a special challenge?It provides an overview of the current state of knowledge on:Exposure to ultrafine particles and sources of emissionsToxicologyEp...

EPA and its regulatory partners at the State and local level have taken significant steps to dramatically reduce toxic air pollutants and provide important health protections for Americans nationwide. These steps include: reducing toxic emissions from industrial sources; reducing emissions from vehicles and engines through new stringent emission standards and cleaner burning gasoline; and addressi...

Regulations can have a positive or negative impact on the performance of an economic sector or economy. A specific regulation can open or close markets, can promote the elimination or creation of monopolies, can raise entry barriers, or can reduce or boost incentives for innovation or entrepreneurship. It is therefore important to review and improve the process of issuing regulations, to ensure th...

As required under Executive Orders 12866 and 13563, EPA develops Regulatory Impact Analyses (RIAs) to support the development of national air pollution regulations. RIAs contain descriptions of the potential social benefits and social costs of a regulation, including those that cannot be quantified in monetary terms and a determination of the potential net benefits of the rule including an evaluat...

This fitness check assesses the performance of the two complementary EU Ambient Air Quality (AAQ) Directives (2008/50/EC and 2004/107/EC, as augmented by Commission Directive (EU) 2015/1480). These Directives set air quality standards not to be exceeded throughout the EU, and requirements to ensure that Member States adequately monitor and/or assess air quality in a harmonised and comparable manne...