Environmental Protection Regulatory Framework

Noise

One of the main regulatory measures in Europe is the Environmental Noise Directive 

[1]
, which monitors and assesses the impact of aircraft noise on EU citizens living around major airports (>50 000 movements per year). This information is used to define a baseline, future objectives and a noise action plan in coordination with national and local initiatives.

The other key measure is the Noise Regulation 

[2]
 that implements the ICAO Balanced Approach 
[3]
 within European legislation, ideally through consultation and collaboration of stakeholders (e.g. airports, airlines, air navigation service providers, local authorities, local communities) in order to identify optimum solutions 
[4]
. It establishes four main elements (
Figure 5.1
) for aircraft noise management that are critical to any airport noise action plan, and which can be adapted to the specific local circumstances and mitigation costs.

  1. Reduction of noise at source through research programmes aiming at reducing aircraft noise through technology and design.
  2. Land-use planning and management policies to avoid incompatible developments such as residential buildings in noise-sensitive areas.
  3. Noise abatement operational procedures 
    [5]
     to enable the reduction or redistribution of noise around the airport and make full use of modern aircraft and air navigation capabilities, while considering tradeoffs with emissions.
  4. Aircraft operational restrictions that limit access to or reduce the operational capacity of an airport, for instance noise quotas or flight restrictions. These are typically only implemented following due consideration of benefits that could be achieved form the other elements. Unlike aircraft compliant with Chapter 3 of ICAO Annex 16 Volume I, restrictions of Chapter 4 and 14 aircraft should be of a partial nature and not totally prohibiting access of these aircraft to the airport concerned.

EASA provides technical support in implementing the ‘Balanced Approach’ Noise Regulation through the verification and publication of aircraft noise and performance (ANP) data, which is used in models to compute airport noise contours (also called noise maps) and noise exposure of EU citizens living close to airports. During 2023, EASA also took over from EUROCONTROL the management and hosting of the ANP legacy data, which was approved prior to EASA’s legal mandate in this area, in order to establish a single source of ANP data within Europe. In addition, the Agency gathers noise documentation of individual aircraft with a maximum take-off mass of 34 000 kg or more, or greater than 19 passenger seats, operating at European airports. The information is then made available to competent authorities, air navigation service providers and airports. As of 2024, the Agency has verified more than 15 ANP datasets and collected more than 15 500 aircraft noise documents from over 1 200 aircraft operators 

[6]
.

Assessment of Environmental Noise Directive implementation

The 3rd Implementation Report on the Environmental Noise Directive 

[7]
 was published by the European Commission in March 2023. Based on the main observations, the report contained the following conclusions, recommendations and next steps:

  • Management of airport noise was confirmed as a priority action.
  • The current regulatory framework is coherent (no overlaps or contradictions), but progress was hampered by the lack of a common noise policy objective.
  • The noise target and commitments set out in the Zero Pollution Action Plan (ZPAP) 
    [8]
     reinforced political momentum to accelerate and intensify policies and action to reduce noise.
  • Optimal cooperation between national, regional, and local authorities is required, with local actors empowered and encouraged to replicate best practices.
  • Civil society representatives should be encouraged to ensure noise action plans are implemented and deliver noise reduction improvements at local level.
  • At the EU level, the Commission will, where needed, priortise action that includes:
    • Promote enhanced procedures to reduce noise from the landing and take-off of aircraft;
    • Introduce environmental charges to increase use of quiet aircraft when revising the Airport Charges Directive 
      [9]
      ;
    • Support Member States with relevant tools and actions under the ZPAP;
    • Strengthen short-term actions on tackling noise at source; and
    • Assess possible improvements to the Directive, including noise reduction targets at the EU level as underlined in the ZPAP.
  • At the national level, Member States need to accelerate compliance efforts and ensure airport noise abatement objectives and mitigation mesaures are in line with the Balanced Approach.

Implementation of the Noise Regulation Balanced Approach

Recent examples in the application of the Balanced Approach Regulation 

[10]
 suggest that clear guidance for Member States to implement the Balanced Approach effectively will help find comprehensive solutions to address aircraft noise impacts, while maintaining air connectivity and promoting consistency, transparency and inclusivity of all stakeholders.

Air Quality

The EU Ambient Air Quality Directives form the Regulatory Framework within Europe in this area. In October 2022, the European Commission introduced a proposal to revise the Directives, which drew on the lessons learnt from the evaluation of the current air quality legislation.

The revision strengthens provisions on monitoring, modelling and air quality plans to help local authorities achieve cleaner air, which includes improved monitoring at air quality hotspots that may include airports.

Furthemore, it revises air quality standards to align them more closely with the World Health Organization recommendations, and foresees a regular review of the air quality standards in line with latest scientific evidence with a view to putting the EU on track to achieve zero pollution for air by 2050. Finally, it further improves the legal framework, providing more clarity on access to justice, damage redress, effective penalties, and better public information on air quality.

In February 2024, the European Parliament and Council of the EU reached a political agreement on the new Directive, which was adopted at the end of 2024 

[11]
.

Zero Pollution Action Plan

zero pollution ambition logoThe European Green Deal’s Zero Pollution Action Plan (ZPAP) 

[8]
 was adopted in 2021 and aims to reduce air, water and soil pollution to levels no longer considered harmful to health and natural ecosystems by 2050. This was translated into the following 2030 targets with a 2005 baseline:

  • reducing the share of people chronically disturbed by transport noise by 30%2 ; and
  • improving air quality to reduce the number of premature deaths caused by air pollution by 55%.

zero pollution monitoring assessmentThe 1st Zero Pollution Monitoring Assessment was published in December 2022 

[14]
. The key messages / conclusions were:

  • ZPAP noise target for 2030 is unlikely to be achieved unless additional measures are taken.
  • Main obstacle to reaching this target is road traffic noise, while aircraft noise is forecast to decrease.
  • Reducing the number of people chronically disturbed by transport noise requires action at all levels (EU, national, regional and local).
  • Good progress has been made in reducing health impacts of air pollution. If the past trend continues, the EU is on track to meet the target of a 55% reduction.
  • There has been a 45% fall in premature deaths since 2005, although aircraft NOX and non-volatile PM emissions have increased.

The 2nd Zero Pollution Monitoring Assessment is due to published in early 2025.

2 This has been defined by EEA 

[12]
as number of people ‘highly annoyed’ where high annoyance is based on the exposureresponse functions outlined in the WHO environmental noise guidelines for the European Region 
[13]
and reported data under the Environmental Noise Directive on the number of people exposed to annual average noise levels of 55 dB or higher during the day-evening-night period (Lden).
 

Published in collaboration with

  • EEA logo
  • EUROCONTROL logo