Noise is a serious threat to health. At least one in five people in the EU are exposed to long-term noise levels considered harmful to their health. Health issues related to these exposures include annoyance, sleep disturbance, and cardiovascular and metabolic issues; in addition, noise impacts mental health and children’s ability to learn. Cities are particularly impacted by high levels of noise pollution due to the high concentration of human activity, transportation, and infrastructure, with noise from road transport by far the main source of exposure, followed by rail traffic noise, aircraft noise then industrial noise. Road traffic noise is estimated to impact the health and well-being of more than 100 million people in Europe.
The Environmental Noise Directive (END) is the European legislative framework for addressing noise pollution, linking efforts at the international, EU, national and local level. The directive requires member states to produce noise maps to assess the population’s exposure to environmental noise, and to develop action plans to reduce noise pollution. The Directive does not include EU noise limits. However, as part of the European Green Deal, the 2021 Zero Pollution Action Plan set a specific target of reducing by 30% by 2030 (compared to 2017 exposure levels) the number of people chronically disturbed by transport noise. This is an EU level target and not binding on member states.
A special report by the European Court of Auditors on Urban Pollution published March 2025 found considerable gaps in the reporting of most member states and highlights that the EU noise targets will not be achieved. The Commission’s current estimates show that the percentage of population exposed will not decline by more than 19 % by 2030 and in fact, under the pessimistic scenario, the overall number of people chronically disturbed by transport noise may even increase by 3 %.
This was reiterated in the EEA’s second Zero Pollution Monitoring and Outlook report (March 2025) which highlighted that pollution levels from harmful noise (as well as microplastics, nutrient and waste) remain too high. On noise pollution, more efforts are required, particularly in urban areas, to decrease the number of people chronically disturbed by transport noise. Cities have a fundamental role in addressing noise pollution as the authorities responsible for noise mapping and action planning as a requirement under the European Environmental Noise Directive (a responsibility delegated by member states). Cities address noise pollution
through various mechanisms including urban planning and zoning policies, transport infrastructure policies, regulation addressing nightlife and entertainment noise (e.g. festivals), planning for urban green and calm spaces, stakeholder engagement, and public awareness raising.
In recent years, cities are moving away from a focus just on noise pollution to consider the broader urban soundscape. The soundscape generally refers to the perception of urban public open spaces, encompassing both the natural acoustic environment (e.g. sounds from birds, trees, water) and sounds created by humans (e.g. sounds from traffic, conversations, music). This future-orientated approach means cities are considering how they would like the city to sound overall: considering new modes of transport and its effect on the soundscape; assessing the design of streets, their width and vegetation; and creating calm areas with natural sounds from water features, vegetation and biodiversity.
But key challenges remain. One of the main challenges is the recent change in the European methodology for calculating noise levels which means cities can no longer compare previous data sets with the latest round of mapping. Another significant barrier is the need for cross-department collaboration within cities, and vertical collaboration with regional and national stakeholders. Compounding this – and despite the growing evidence of the health impacts of noise – political attention on noise pollution remains low on all governance levels making it difficult for cities to secure funding for noise-reduction policies and measures, as well as for human resources.
In this report, we outline key challenges and provide some recommendations. We also provide a series of case studies highlighting how cities are tackling noise pollution and considering the broader soundscape through a range of policies and measures. This report was developed to be complementary to the European Environment Agency’s publication on Noise in Europe, providing a focus on cities’ roles and needs.
As such, cities are calling for:
- Legally binding noise reduction targets at Member State level in response to the growing health concern regarding noise pollution and considering the lack of meaningful progress.
- Increased funding to address the growing health risk of noise pollution in cities.
- The urgent publication of a methodology and guidance to be able to interpret previous noise data sets following the implementation of the new EU noise calculation method.
- The revision of European noise legislation to lower reporting thresholds in order to gain an accurate understanding of the population exposed to harmful levels of noise pollution.
