Reducing biomass burning is key to decrease PM exposure in European cities.

Throughout the world, ambient fine particulate matter (PM) is the environmental factor that poses the greatest risk to health and most European citizens continue to be exposed to PM levels well above World Health Organization guidelines. Here we present a comprehensive PM modelling-based source allocation assessment in 708 urban areas in Europe. The results show that urban cores, together with their commuting zones, contribute an average of 22% to urban PM concentrations levels. The residential sector is the highest source sector in 56% of cities. Its average contribution to PM formation is 27%, with a cluster of cities in Northern Italy and Eastern Europe contributing to more than 50%. Industry, agriculture and road transport show average contributions of 18%, 17% and 14%, respectively. Most emissions from residential sectors are anthropogenic primary PM which includes a condensable fraction. Furthermore, anthropogenic primary PM represents the precursor with the highest contribution in most cities (72%), contributing an average of 35% to urban PM levels. Emissions of anthropogenic primary PM by the residential sector are almost entirely (with exceptions of few countries) due to biomass burning. These results suggest that the residential sector should be a key target of any policy to improve air quality and that climate policies promoting biomass as a climate-neutral fuel could have a detrimental effect on air quality. A more integrated approach to climate and air quality policy design is desirable.