⁍ Air pollution contributes to more than 400,000 premature deaths in Europe each year.

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⁍ Despite EU laws requiring countries to limit pollution, most of the bloc’s 27 members are set to miss targets this year to tackle dirty air.

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⁍ France will face legal action for breaching EU limits on particulate matter pollution in Paris for 12 years, and in Martinique, a French island in the Caribbean, for 14 years.

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– Air pollution is killing hundreds of thousands of people in Europe—and France is in hot water. The European Commission said Friday it will take the country to the EU Court of Justice for breaching air-pollution limits in Paris for 12 years and in Martinique for 14 years, reports Reuters. The legal action follows a ruling last year by the EU’s top court that France had breached limits on nitrogen dioxide pollution in 12 regions. “Air pollution contributes to more than 400,000 premature deaths in Europe each year, but despite EU laws requiring countries to limit pollution, most of the bloc’s 27 members are set to miss targets this year to tackle dirty air,” said a statement from the EU Commission, per the Guardian. France has also been warned that it will be fined $11.8 million every six months if it doesn’t clean up its act.