European Analytical Column: Analytical chemistry faces challenges

Abstract

The European Union Policy for Sustainable Development - Some Challenges for Analytical Sciences.

During the "Anthropocene" (Crutzen PJ, Stoermer EF. The "Anthropocene". Global Change Newsletter 2000; 41: 12-13) the human being has had a profound impact on our planet: up to now half of the land surface has been transformed by humans. In the past 3 centuries the population on earth increased 10-fold to 6 billion. Industrial production increased 40-fold in the last 100 years. This development lead to a "Europe of Today" characterized by economic wealth, cultural richness and social security, but also caused significant problems in Europe and globally, particularly environmental pollution, excessive urbanisation, global warming and overexploitation of natural resources. This evolution eventually lead to the present Policy Framework for the European Union where Sustainable Development is a key objective for all European Community Policies and thus the Guiding Principle for the European Union.

The present key issues for Sustainable Development refer to the management of natural resources, climate change and clean energy, and global poverty and development cooperation The issue of sustainable management of natural esources concerns primarily air, water, soil and natural ecosystems like forests.

Clean Air for Europe:

Air pollution has been a major concern in Europe since the mid-sixties and has been adressed in a series of policy initiatives and legislation for the limitation of emissions from industry, energy production and transport dating back at the European level as early as 1970 with regular updates and revisions. Nevertheless recent health studies demonstrate that - even if major improvements in the quality of ambient air have been achieved - significant parts of the population still suffer from summer (ozone) or winter smog (particulate matter) and respiratory diseases are very common. Nowadays European hot spots for air pollution can be predominantly found in urban areas and regions with a very high traffic density. Road transport and shipping are responsible for a major part of the emissions of CO2, particulate matter, SO2, NOx and VOCs (forming ozone) in many regions now. The key challenge is developing a more sustainable transport system in Europe based on an integrated approach for the assessment of the environmental impact of transport aiming at the identification of a mix of different transport modes which is energy efficient, cost effective and environmentally friendly. Analytical sciences play a major role in this context and faces many challenges, like improving the quality of relevant data by linking routine air quality monitoring to metrological measurement systems or harmonising/standardising PM2,5 monitoring, establishing reliable methods for source apportionment of particulate matter, developing "on-board" emission diagnostic devices for heavy duty vehicles. Furthermore the combination of monitoring and modelling for regional and hemispherical transport of pollutants, assessment of non-local contributions to a particular immission situation as well as establishment of reliable scenarios must be further advanced. The development of space based monitoring systems, e.g. within the frame of Copernikus project, and calibration/validation through in-situ measurements is another task which will require a massive contribution from Analytics and will represent a major contribution to a future Spatial Enviromental Information System (SEIS)

Water quality and quantity: As far as the natural resource water is concerned the European problems are primarily that still 20 % of the surface water bodies are seriously threatened by pollution (e.g. by nitrate and pesticides), that 30.000 km² of European freshwaters are affected by acidification and that the ecological status of inland waters is often poor. European seas are significantly affected by eutrophication. In addition there is a wide-spread over-consumption of water, particularly in the South of Europe. Water scarcity affects now already 100 million people in Europe and a dramatic increase is predicted for Southern Europe as a consequence of global warming. Several initiatives of the European Commission address these issues, in particular the Water Framework Directive of 2000 and the Marine Thematic Strategy of 2005. Challenges for Analytical Sciences relate to the development of methods and their , harmonisation/standardisation for priority pollutants, emerging pollutants and ecological quality parameters of lake, river and coastal waters. Futhermore new cost effective monitoring strategies based on "learning networks", dedicated sensor networks, space based monitoring systems (particularly for eutrophication assessment) an an effective combination of monitoring and modelling for input, transport and effects of pollutants should be developed. The establishment of the SEIS element "Water Quality and Quantity" based on the "WISE" Water Information System for Europe is a further priority. Climate Change:

Climate Change provides the probably biggest challenge for Europe and the whole world. Green House Gas emissions have strongly enhanced the natural warming having led to an overall increase of the global mean temperature by 0,78 +/- 0,18 ºC and a sea level rise by 15 cm. Under baseline scenarios CO2 emissions will further increase (by 70 % in industrialized countries and by 250 % by countries in development till 2050) leading to a temperature increase of more than 2 degrees by 2050 and ca 4 degrees by 2100 according to the IPCC report of 2007. The contribution of various countries to the Green House gas emissions are widely different, also on a per capita basis: annual emissions are less than 1 ton per inhabitant for developing countries and India, ca 4 tons for China, nearly 10 tons for the European Union and nearly 20 tons for the USA. Approximately 75 % of GHG emissions are from consumption of fossil fuel and biomass. We have become aware of many different effects of global warming, like the strong retreat of Alpine glaciers, the reduction of the Arctic ice shield by 40 % since 1970, a warming of Mediterranean Sea by 2 - 3 ° during the last 25 years. The European Union has reacted to global warming by introducing the European Climate Change Programmes I and II. These include ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and the proposal of an integrated climate and energy policy in 2006 aiming at a 20% reduction target for GHG emissions, a 20 % increase of the efficiency of energy consumption and a 20 % share of renewable energies by 2020, and a massive efforts to arrive at a global agreement for mitigation of global warming. The EU policy to combat climate change requires massive efforts to develop new clean and sustainable technologies and we need to aim at a "Third Industrial Evolution" (Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Climate Advisor to President Barroso and Chancellor Merkel). Analytical Sciences has a particularly important role in assessing the "Green House Gas Problem" and monitoring global change. The quality assurance systems for emission inventories need to be further developed, by e.g. reducing uncertainties in the flux of Green House Gases in the domain agriculture, forestry and land use, new assessment systems based on a combination of monitoring and modelling for emission and transport of Green House Gases and air pollutants need to be established. Of particular importance is the development of space based monitoring systems which need to be calibrated and validated through in-situ measurements for the assessment of the global concentrations of climate effective gases and aerosols and the study of climate change impacts. Global poverty and development cooperation:

In respect to the priority theme Global Poverty and Development Cooperation the main issues are on the one hand that changes outside Europe are exerting pressures on the European Union through air pollution, GHG emissionsof other countries etc., but on the other hand that Europe is also exporting pressure on the environment by consumption of global resources: its ecological foot print is 3 times as much as its "fair earth share" and is not in line with a "One Planet Living" concept. The EU has made many important initiatives to foster development cooperation, like fully endorsing the Doha Development Agenda of the WTO Member States of 2001, the Cotonou agreement of 2000 with Africa, Carribean and Pacific States, and it is strongly supporting to achieve the UN Millenium Development Goals. The principle of Sustainable Development has been introduced in all relevant policies, like External Relations, like Trade, Security and Development Cooperation. The environmental pressures on the ecosystems in areas outside Europe are increasing at a dramatic speed. In the rapidly growing economies we encounter massive land destruction, water and air pollution in and around new mega-cities. The "Less Developed Economies" are stricken by different problems: lack of essential infrastructure and services (2 billion people without energy services, like access to electricity), shortage of agricultural land, food and water (globally only 12 % of land surface usable for agriculture and only 2,5 % high value farmland, 1 billion people are without access to safe drinking water), widespread diseases and poverty (in Sub-Saharan Africa 50 % of the people live on less than 1 Euro/day, there are millions of potential migrants). Africa has been identified as a Priority Partner of the European Union. 3 billion Euro are provided annually as development aid to support infrastructure development, the sustainable use of natural resources, and food security. Important tasks for Analytical Sciences include provision of environmental monitoring systems and knowledge/know-how to the rapidly developing conomies and the developing countries, furthermore the development of globally operating space based observation systems with calibration/validation through in-situ measurements for monitoring of pollution of air and water, the exploitation of natural resources, the assessment of climate change impacts, and the onitoring of agricultural productivity and - last but not least - the establishment of data and observation systems for environmental health. The overall major challenge for the European Union - as for other highly industrialized and wealthy societies - is without doubt to develop a functioning an interdependent global system where the presently 6,7 billion people (and 10 billion in 2050) from 1000 nations and 200 countries can live together peacefully. Key questions will relate to environmental quality, the sustainable management of natural resources, combating climate change and achieving a better equilibrium in the distribution of resources. New technologies and an inegrated thinking will be the key to progress. Analytical Sciences as a key discipline for providing reliable and useful information will play an important role in this evolution.