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Being the world’s highest energy source importer - 53% of its energy production for a cost of €400 billion<refname="Ten priorities">[https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/53f2ea1d-8cf6-11e5-b8b7-01aa75ed71a1], ''Ten priorities for Europe'',- European Commission, https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/53f2ea1d-8cf6-11e5-b8b7-01aa75ed71a1.</ref>, the European Commission has highlighted in its Ten priorities for Europe booklet published in 2015 the dependence of the Union on the fossil fuels which represent 88% of the generation of energy and heat in 2013. This booklet also highlights the little use of the renewable energies which, even if they increase, represent only 12% in 2013<ref name="Ten priorities" />. The use of the fossil fuels is not without consequences. Indeed, their use is responsible for the emissions of some air pollutants causing air pollution, climate change and the connected health problems. As the commission highlights, ''“Around 90 % of city dwellers in Europe are exposed to pollutants at concentrations higher than the air quality levels deemed harmful to health” ''<ref name="Air pollution">[https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/air/intro], ''Air pollution'', European Environement Agency</ref>. These air pollutants are known and defined and are among the:<gallery>Air Pollutants.PNG|Caption1</gallery>
* Particulate matter (PM)
* Sulphure Dioxyde (SO2)
The EU has been attempting to reduce these air pollutants in the atmosphere and improving the air quality for a couple of decades. It has taken 1990 as a year of reference and has fixed some strict objectives for air pollutant emissions. The implementation of some legislation and regulations seems to have succeeded on the objective to initiate a wave of reducing these emissions, like shown in chart 2.
[[File:Example.png|thumb|'''Air pollutant emission in EU-28, Index 1990 = 100''', Air pollutant emission in EU-28, European Commision - Europa, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/File:Figure-1-Emissions_of_air_pollutants,_EU-28,_1990-2014,_Index_1990%3D100.png
]]
But as the EEA highlights, the issue of air pollution is more complex than people can think because of the fact that air pollution does not know borders. That is why the EEA recalls on its website that ''“there is not always a clear linear relationship between decreasing emissions and the concentrations of air pollutants observed in the air”''<ref name="Air pollution" />. This blurring correlation between a decrease in emissions and the concentrations of air pollutants is due to the fact that air pollution cannot be stopped by borders and moves from one country to another. That is why a country can see a decrease of its emission while remaining with a high concentration of air pollutants.
===Fighting the air pollution : going forward or not ?===
