European Commission

Pathway to a Healthy Planet for All EU Action Plan: 'Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil

COM(2021) 400 final

The zero pollution ambition is a cross-cutting objective contributing to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and complementing the 2050 climate-neutrality goal in synergy with the clean and circular economy and restored biodiversity goals. It is part and parcel of many European Green Deal and other initiatives, and the Commission will continue including the
zero pollution ambition in future policy initiatives.
The main objective of this action plan is to provide a compass for including pollution prevention in all relevant EU policies, maximising synergies in an effective and proportionate way, stepping up implementation and identifying possible gaps or trade-offs. To steer the EU
towards the 2050 vision of a Healthy Planet for All, this action plan sets key 2030 targets to speed up pollution reduction.

Under EU law, Green Deal ambitions and in synergy with other initiatives, by 2030 the EU should reduce:
1. by more than 55% the health impacts (premature deaths) of air pollution;
2. by 30% the share of people chronically disturbed by transport noise;
3. by 25% the EU ecosystems where air pollution threatens biodiversity;
4. by 50% nutrient losses, the use and risk of chemical pesticides, the use of the more hazardous ones, and the sale of antimicrobials for farmed animals and in aquaculture;
5. by 50% plastic litter at sea and by 30% microplastics released into the environment;
6. significantly total waste generation and by 50% residual municipal waste.