Detailed description
The main causes of air pollutants in Hamburg are above all road and ship traffic, industry and energy production as well as the operation of building heating systems. The pollutants act as immissions on us humans, animals and plants, the soil, the water and the atmosphere.
Of all the pollutants in the air we breathe, nitrogen oxides (NOx), especially nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine dust (PM = "particulate matter") are the most harmful to human health. But also the pollutants benzene/xylene/toluene, carbon monoxide (CO), ground-level ozone (O3) and sulfur dioxide (SO2), which have fallen sharply in recent years, which are typical of car traffic, can impair human health and must be controlled (see "Effects of air pollutants").