European Metrology Network for Pollution Monitoring

The EU’s Green Deal (COM/2019/640) acknowledges that “the EU needs to better monitor, report, prevent and remedy pollution from air, water, soil, and consumer products and to look more systematically at all policies and regulations”. In order to address these challenges, the Commission launched a new Strategy for Sustainability in October 2020 and adopted a Zero-pollution Action Plan for air, water and soil in 2021.

There is an increasing awareness that pollutants occur in the environment as components of very complex mixtures, and assessment criteria developed for each individual substance do not usually consider the consequence of simultaneous exposure to multiple pollutants. The very low number of these pollutants that are currently regulated or monitored shows that we do not yet have a complete overview of chemicals, radionuclides, particulates and biological pollutants in the environment and their possible impacts. Moreover, in some cases, analytical methods sufficiently sensitive to monitor such pollutants at the lowest levels are non-existent, too expensive or undocumented.

Comparability and robustness of measurements are often compromised by a lack of traceability chains and appropriate quality control (such as matrix-matched certified reference materials and interlaboratory comparisons), validation schemes, standardisation or standard operating procedures. There is a need to demonstrate and convince stakeholders and end-users of the importance of traceability to the SI in the field of environmental science.

Measurement capabilities of European metrology institutes, calibration laboratories, proficiency tests providers, standardisation and accreditation bodies in the pollution monitoring sector are fragmented. The EMP PolMo brings together these capabilities, making it easier to find information and support for regulatory bodies, environmental agencies, industries and other communities and better understand “who is doing what”.
The European Metrology Network for Pollution Monitoring provides measurement science expertise to society, the environmental community and industry to metrologically support the monitoring of chemicals, radionuclides, biological/microbiological and particulate pollution in air, water and soil. The network acts as a bridge between stakeholder and end-user communities and contributes to environmental sustainability through accurate pollution measurements.