Cities are concerned by various types of pollution, including air, water, soil and noise pollution, and their negative impacts on human health and the environment. Many of these pollutants emanate from the same sources as greenhouse gas emissions being tackled in the context of the EU Mission Climate-Neutral Smart Cities, so it is clear there are potential environmental co-benefits from reducing GHG emissions.[2] Designing effective policies to protect city dwellers from pollution depends on solid evidence as well as on cooperation and communication between and with policy makers and citizens.

Applicants should propose projects that deliver better and innovative local measures against pollution through, among others, improved knowledge on the exposures of citizens to pollution and improved health impact assessments and strategies to reduce health impacts related to air, water, soil and/or noise pollution. Where technological solutions are proposed, these are expected to reach up to TRL 5 by the end of the project.

In order to address these needs, individual projects must address at least two of the following areas:

• Improved health impact assessments to highlight and attempt to monetize the (co-)benefits and socio-economic impacts of zero pollution measures, in combination with climate neutrality policies, contributing to better ex-ante cost-benefit analysis and increasing public acceptance of measures.
• Measurement and modelling methods for more precisely assessing exposure and risk-based health impacts at regional and/or local level (should deliver results that can be communicated to the wider public as well).
• More precise evidence on exposure, notably of vulnerable population groups, and making health impact assessments easily comparable.
• Exploration of the effectiveness of dynamic abatement strategies by monitoring changes in pollution levels, complemented by citizen science / observations.