Overview
- Ecologistas en Acción’s report, using data from nearly 500 stations between January and September, attributes the surge to two prolonged summer heat waves during the warmest summer on record.
- Authorities logged 320 information-threshold exceedances by September 30, the most since 2015, concentrated in Madrid and Catalonia; the Madrid region ranked worst and the city set a new ozone record.
- Exposure estimates vary by benchmark: about 8 million people under current EU limits, more than 12 million under 2030 EU targets, and up to 47 million under WHO guidance.
- Legal objectives were breached in 26 air-quality zones across regions including Madrid, Catalonia, Andalusia, the Balearic Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, the Valencian Community, Extremadura and Murcia.
- In Murcia, levels were the highest since 2017, with stations such as Jumilla and Alumbres exceeding the WHO guideline on over 100 days; NGOs cite inadequate public alerts and missing regional plans, warning ozone is linked to roughly 10,000 premature deaths annually and an estimated 4,000 deaths this summer tied to heat and ozone.