As part of November’s infringement package released today, the European Commission announced its decision to refer Portugal, along with Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Sweden, to the Court of Justice of the European Union. This move is due to their failure to comply with commitments to reduce emissions of various air pollutants as required by the directive on the reduction of national emissions of certain air pollutants.
The European Commission notes that Portugal failed to meet the “commitment to reduce ammonia emissions,” despite having been warned by the institution in 2023 regarding its emission reduction efforts since 2020.
This EU legislation sets national emission reduction commitments for several air pollutants that all member states must fulfill annually between 2020 and 2029, with more ambitious reductions starting in 2030.
Countries are also required to establish and update national air pollution control programs to demonstrate how these commitments are being met.
Ammonia emissions are the pollutant for which most member states have not fulfilled their obligations.
Since 2023, based on data from 2020, Brussels has been warning Portugal that it is not reducing its ammonia emissions sufficiently, as per analyses of national inventories.
According to Brussels, the latest inventories released this year, which include emission data up to 2023, “reveal persistent deficiencies in meeting emission reduction commitments by some member states.”
“The Commission considers that the efforts made by authorities have been insufficient to date to meet the reduction commitments,” which is why Portugal and the other three European countries have been taken to court.
The European Commission also noted that it will continue to monitor air pollutant emissions across all member states and will decide on new measures if deemed necessary.
