Finland has some of the best air in Europe

In Finland, air quality is good compared with the rest of the EU, summarised the Finnish public broadcaster, YLE. The country was found to have the cleanest air in the 27-country bloc in terms of ozone levels, the second lowest concentration of respirable particles and the third lowest concentration fine particulate matter, after Iceland and Estonia.

The country should, however, rein in the amount of particles released by small-scale burning of wood.

The EEA published its report on the status of air quality in the 27 member states in June, concluding that – despite overall improvements – current EU standards are still not met across Europe. The air quality assessments were conducted in 2022–2023.

As many as 96 per cent of urbanites in the union are exposed to unsafe concentrations of fine particular matter, it highlighted. Typically released by the burning of charcoal, coal, peat, wood or other solid fuels for domestic heating, fine particulate matter is responsible for the greatest negative health effects in Europe.

The EU is scheduled to institute new, more ambitious air quality standards in 2030.