The UJI Summer University resumes its program with the course "Air Quality in Spain. New Challenges Associated with the Implementation of EU Directive 2024/2881". The forum will take place on June 17 and 18 at the facilities of Palasiet Wellness Clinic & Thalasso in Benicàssim. This training initiative is supported by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.
The course, co-directed by CSIC researcher Xavier Querol and UJI Professor of Chemical Engineering Eliseo Monfort, aims to analyze and debate the challenges posed by the new European regulation, approved in late 2024. This directive replaces previous legislation and seeks to achieve environmental standards that imply the complete absence of atmospheric pollution by the year 2050.
To meet this ambitious goal, the directive sets 2030 as the deadline for member states to comply with the new mandatory emission limit values. The purpose of this regulatory framework is to ensure that existing pollution concentration levels do not pose a risk to human health, ecosystems, and biodiversity.
One of the directive's most significant novelties is the obligation for member states to establish a network of supersites, advanced measurement stations that consolidate various types of air quality monitoring. One supersite is required per 10 million inhabitants and one per 100,000 km², necessitating the implementation of 10 such stations in Spain.
This biannual event will bring together nearly thirty experts and technicians from various regional governments and city councils, members of CIEMAT, researchers from CSIC, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), universities, and representatives from the Ministry of Ecological Transition. Topics to be analyzed include the national ozone plan, the contribution of regional and local administrations, and the technical requirements for supersites.
