Between 2010 and 2016, Germany "systematically and persistently" exceeded the limit values for nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ruled the European Court of Justice on Thursday, June 3.

According to the judgement by the EU's top court, Germany breached the EU's annual limits for NO2 pollution in 26 of 89 zones analyzed, including Berlin, Stuttgart, Munich, Cologne and Dusseldorf and failed to "adopt appropriate measures in good time to ensure that the exceedance period is kept as short as possible."

READ MORE:

Meet the waste warriors reusing and recycling your trash

Each year almost a billion tons of food is wasted. What happens next?

Eco death: What can we do with our bodies?

EU rules limit the levels of NO2 emissions to below 40 micrograms per cubic meter annually, and 200 micrograms per cubic meter as an hourly average. Germany was found in breach of both.

Germany must now comply with the ruling and improve the quality of air in its major urban sites, or risk facing financial penalties.

Since 2016, most of the areas found exceeding NO2 pollution levels have limited their emissions to comply with the EU limits, but in 2020 six German cities still breached the annual limit, according to government data, including the capital.

The complaint to the Luxembourg-based court was made by the European Commission in 2018, and it wasn't the first of its kind. Similar complaints were previously issued for France, the UK, Italy, Hungary and Romania.

Air pollution has recently been decreasing in Europe, but it's still the continent's biggest environmental health risk, linked to diabetes, lung disease and cancer.

The Commission has recommended reducing the number of diesel cars and trucks on the road, which represents one of the major sources of NO2 pollution.

_{Cover image: Tobias Schwarz/AFP}