Experts say that coordinate system has to be changed

The World Health Organization studied the quality of air Europeans breathe. General conclusions are distressing: more than 80 percent of Europeans breathe air, the level of pollution of which exceeds the standard. This was announced by the WHO’s regional bureau. Initiators of the research believe that prolonged exposure to fine particles (PM2.5) can cause a variety of pathologies, from atherosclerosis to complications during childbirth and children respiratory diseases. Also, experts emphasize the connection between the inhalation of polluted air and neurological disorders, reduced mental activity, and diabetes. Polluted air makes life of an average European citizen 8.6 months shorter.

THE MINISTRY OF ECOLOGY IS ONLY STARTING TO WORK ON METHODS OF AIR POLLUTION ASSESSMENT

The problem of air pollution in Ukraine is rather perceptible, especially in such large cities as Kyiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Dniprodzerzhynsk, Odesa, Kharkiv, Luhansk. Large number of transport vehicles, developed metallurgical and coal industries, and energy industry in general lead to disappointing results: Ukraine is one of the countries that have the most polluted air and is one of the top 20 countries that generate the most carbon emissions (due to inefficient technologies). The result of this is overall poor health of Ukrainians with a tendency to deterioration.

According to the latest data (for 2011) provided by the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, the general amount of air pollutant emissions from stationary (plants, factories, etc.) and mobile (cars, vehicles in general) sources equaled to 6,877.3 thousand tons. Air pollution from stationary sources increased by 6 percent since 2010. The most polluted oblasts are Donetsk (35 percent of the total amount of pollution for the country), Dnipropetrovsk (21 percent), and Luhansk (almost 11 percent).

Concerning the transport, the amount of emissions decreased in 2011, but very slightly, only by 1.7 percent (in general, it was 2,502.7 thousand tons for Ukraine). Emissions from car vehicles generate the most pollution (90 percent). Emissions from industrial machinery totaled to almost seven percent, and water and air transport emissions equaled to three percent.

Today the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine discusses the ways of adapting of Ukrainian environmental legislation to the EU legislation on air quality. This refers to the Directive 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2008 on ambient air quality. Among the measures that are to be taken are the improvement of the monitoring system, establishment of requirements for fuel quality, definition of zones and agglomerations differentiated by the degree of air quality, the latter being the matter of the very methodic for air pollution determining. And in our country, it does not meet the EU requirements ever since the Soviet Union times.

“The problem is within the coordinate system. We need to change the methods. The level of air pollution in Ukraine is classified in relation to carbon emissions. While in the rest of the world it is determined depending on the level of risk to people. The closer a company that generates emissions is to residential area, the stricter are the requirements to it. And we have ‘equality’: the requirements are the same for all, regardless of whether the enterprise is located near a forest and pollutes it, or in a city, or some remote location. So, if we talk about adapting the Directive 2008/50/EC, we need to create a method for calculation of emissions of harmful substances and test it,” explains the representative of the Center for Environmental Initiatives Oleh KARTAVTSEV.

IT IS NOT PROFITABLE FOR COMPANIES TO BECOME “GREEN”

Entrepreneurs explain that such conditions are created in the country that it is not profitable for businesses to improve, including improvement of the ecological efficiency.

The problem is within the coordinate system. We need to change the methods. The level of air pollution in Ukraine is classified in relation to carbon emissions. While in the rest of the world it is determined depending on the level of risk to people. The closer a company that generates emissions is to residential area, the stricter are the requirements to it.

“We need to harmonize legislation, monitor the level of emissions, and most importantly, we need to motivate our enterprises, organizations, and establishments (including the state ones) to improve. There is a well-known scale, which helps determining the level of excellence of any organization in terms of satisfaction of all interested parties: manufacturers, employees, the society. The scale has environmental, medical, demographical compounds, etc. With the maximum of a thousand points on the scale, the best European enterprises have 750 to 800 points, the best CIS companies (there are very few of them) – 600 to 650 points. But the average in a developed country is 350 to 450 points. While in Ukraine and Russia, the average is 150 to 250 points. These points reflect everything: life expectancy, death rate, fertility, level of satisfaction with life, level of medical care, level of GDP per capita. I think that our future has to be built on state motivation. The state has to motivate companies to improve,” says the representative of the Ukrainian Union of Entrepreneurs Petro KALYTA.

Another important problem is the dispersion of responsibilities for monitoring the state of environment between different ministries. It is hard to find the responsible one in such conditions. “If we look at the basic plan of adaptation of Ukrainian environmental legislation to the EU legislation (National Legislation Approximation Plan), we can see that the Ministry of Emergency Situations has to develop standards for emissions of volatile organic compounds (paints and varnishes). But this is unheard of! The ministry has to respond to fires at paint factories, and nothing more. Also, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has to control car emissions. But what does the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources do in such setup? I have worked abroad for over 30 years. In England, United States, Switzerland, Germany, in all those countries there are agencies that deal with matters of environment and ecology, and they do all the work. The Ministry of Economy is not on the list of executors of environmental legislation there (and here it says that this ministry has to create regulations on volatile organic compounds emissions). Also, the same goes for the Ministry of Health. But doctors do not create standards, this is a direct obligation of the Ministry of Ecology,” says the representative of the Association of Ukrainian Paint and Varnish Manufacturers Oleksandr BRYCHKO.

Unfortunately, the discussion of this document shows that the problem of air is a systemic one for us. If today Europe talks about reducing emissions, including transport ones, we are only discussing the adaptation of methods, the need for creation of a single state environment body, the things that have been done in developed countries long ago. Also, Europe has already established air quality standards (something we have not even thought about), which show the maximum amounts of emission for sources of various types: stationery, mobile, etc. Requirements set in the EU also include goals till 2020. In particular, it is planned to reduce the decrease of life expectancy under the influence of polluted air by half.