Silesian University of Technology, Akademicka 2A, 44-100, Gliwice, Poland.
J Environ Manage. 2019 Feb 1;231:582-595. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.10.045. Epub 2018 Oct 30.
The article presents the analysis results of the grouping of the European Union countries with regard to emission levels of gaseous pollutants (NH3, NMVOCs, SO, NO) and particulate air pollutants (PM10 and PM2.5) which are one of the most dangerous type of pollution for human health. Their long-lasting effects on the human body may negatively affect health and life expectancy. The analysis was based on the taxonomic method of grouping data using the K-means method which is a non-hierarchical method. The analysis used the data published by Eurostat. Organizing countries into categories of emissions of gaseous and dust pollutants to the atmosphere was conducted for four cases: the total level of emission, the level of emissions related to the GDP, the area, and per capita. The Euclidean distance was a measure of the distance between Member States. The obtained results indicate that, depending on the adopted criterion, there is a significant change in the composition of individual clusters. This confirms the assumptions of the Authors who claimed that in order to develop a more comprehensive analysis and assessment of the state of atmospheric pollution in EU countries it is necessary to include additional criteria, other than only the total emission of a given pollution. The objective of the research was to indicate that the analysis of emissions of selected type of pollution, and at the same time most threatening to human health, does not fully reflect the actual state of the problem when presented only in terms of the emitted amount. It is therefore appropriate for EU institutions to take more account of the differences between the individual countries in terms of the criteria presented in the paper, during the decision-making process concerning the sustainable development policy in the field of environmental protection.
本文对欧盟国家的气态污染物（氨、非甲烷挥发性有机化合物、二氧化硫、氮氧化物）和颗粒物空气污染物（PM10 和 PM2.5）排放水平进行了分组分析，这些污染物是对人类健康最危险的污染类型之一。它们对人体的长期影响可能会对健康和预期寿命产生负面影响。该分析基于使用 K-均值方法（一种非层次方法）对数据进行分类的分类方法。该分析使用了 Eurostat 发布的数据。对气态和灰尘污染物向大气排放的分组分析针对以下四种情况进行：总排放量、与 GDP、面积和人均相关的排放量。欧几里得距离是成员国之间距离的度量。研究结果表明，根据采用的标准，各个集群的组成发生了显著变化。这证实了作者的假设，即要对欧盟国家的大气污染状况进行更全面的分析和评估，除了仅排放总量外，还必须纳入其他标准。研究的目的是表明，对选定类型的污染（同时也是对人类健康最具威胁的污染）排放的分析，如果仅以排放量来表示，并不完全反映实际情况。因此，欧盟机构在涉及环境保护领域的可持续发展政策的决策过程中，应更多地考虑到本文提出的标准在各个国家之间的差异。
