The Environment and Resources Authority said today that it is updating the Air Quality Plan (AQP) together with Transport Malta.

The Plan consists of measures, mostly targeting pollution from road transport.

"The European Environment Agency state that 70 % of the pollutants and 40 % of the greenhouse gas emissions from European road transport arise due to urban transport. However, they also inform that while human activities are the main cause of poor air quality, natural sources of air pollution also play a role. ERA has determined that the most common natural sources of particulate matter with a diameter of 10 microns (PM10) in Malta are desert dust and salt from sea spray.

The AQP will not be targeting the natural sources of particulate matter, but has been specifically designed with Transport Malta to address ambient concentrations of PM10 (particles) and nitrogen dioxide (NOx) generated by traffic," the ERA said.