76% of our urban centers are outlawed with respect to fine dust limits

Strong interventions are needed, because especially in the cities of northern Italy the air is unbreathable due to the smog and, when considering the limits for fine particles, 76% of our urban centers are outlawed compared to the European targets. These are the main points of the new report by Legambiente “Bad air in the city. Change of pace wanted”written and published as part of the Clean Cities Campaign.

The data in the report refer to 2022, when 29 out of 95 Italian cities have exceeded the daily PM10 limits. The worst situations were found in Turin, Milan, Modena, Asti, Padua and Venice, urban centers that recorded more than double the permitted overrunsthe. However, the situation is worrying everywhere, because our country is decidedly late in adapting to the new European targets by 2030, given that 76% of cities are outlawed for PM10, 84% for PM2.5 and 61% % for the NO₂.

“Italian cities will have to work hard to adapt to the new limits within the next seven years, – he notes Andrea Minutoloscientific director of Legambiente – above all considering that the pollution reduction trends recorded so far are not encouraging and that the values ​​indicated by the WHO guidelines, which are the real objective to be achieved to protect people’s health, are even more stringent standards of future European limits”.

As mentioned, out of 95 cities monitored, as many as 29 have exceeded the current regulatory limits for PM10 exceedances (35 days a year with a daily average above 50 micrograms/cubic metre) with the Grassi control unit in Turin taking first place with 98 days of overrun, followed by the Senate of Milan with 84, the Baussano of Asti 79, the Giardini of Modena 75, the Arcella of Padua and the Tagliamento of Venice with 70. In fact, in these cities the number of overruns permitted in one year has doubled compared to the norm.

It must be said that for PM10, the analysis of the annual averages has shown that no city has exceeded the limit set by current legislation, but according to Legambiente “this is not sufficient to guarantee the health of citizens, in consideration of the recommendations of the World Organization of Health and the limits established by the new European Directive on air quality, which will enter into force on 1 January 2030. For PM10, in fact, only 23 out of 95 (24% of the total) cities would have failed to pass the threshold of 20 µg/mc. 72 cities would therefore be outlawed”.

Cities where smog prevention measures are most urgent

When we analyze the urban centers in which sufficient policies have not yet been implemented to stem pollution, smaller cities are added to the large cities of the North, where industrial activities are not concentrated, but the policies for the reduction of particulate matter are dramatically delay. According to the environmental association, the cities that have to work harder to reduce their concentrations and adapt to the new targets (20 µg/mc not to be exceeded for PM10, 10 µg/mc for PM2.5, 20 µg/mc for ‘NO₂) are Turin and Milan (necessary reduction of 43%), Cremona (42%), Andria (41%) and Alessandria (40%) for PM10; Monza (60%), Milan, Cremona, Padua and Vicenza (57%), Bergamo, Piacenza, Alessandria and Turin (55%), Como (52%), Brescia, Asti and Mantua (50%) for PM2.5 . The cities of Milan (47%), Turin (46%), Palermo (44%), Como (43%), Catania (41%), Rome (39%), Monza, Genoa, Trento and Bolzano (34%) , for the NO₂.

Legambiente specifies that the unit of measurement with which the concentrations of NO₂, PM2.5 and PM10 is micrograms per cubic meter of air (µg/mc). As for nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), the provincial capital cities from which the annual average was obtained are 94; for PM2.5 they are 85; for PM10 (both for the annual averages and for the daily overruns) they are 96. The annual average was calculated as the average of the annual averages of the single official monitoring stations of the ARPA classified as urban (surface or traffic).

There is a lack of policies to improve the situation

According to Legambiente, in general in Italy the trend of decreasing pollution is too slow, exposing cities to new health risks and sanctions. The average annual rate of reduction of concentrations at national level is, in fact, only 2% for PM10 and 3% for NO2. Cities furthest away from the PM10 target, for example, are expected to reduce their city concentrations by between 30% and 43% within the next seven years, but according to the current reduction trends recorded over the last 10 years (2011 period – 2021, Urban Ecosystem data), it could take another 17 years on average to reach the goal, i.e. 2040 instead of 2030. Cities like Modena, Treviso, Vercelli could take over 30 years. Even for the NO₂ the situation is similar and a city like Catania could take more than 40 years

“Air pollution is not only an environmental problem, but also a major health problem,” he comments Stephen Ciafani, national president of Legambiente. “In Europe, it is the first cause of premature death due to environmental factors and Italy records a sad record with more than 52,000 deaths per year from PM2.5, equal to 1/5 of those recorded throughout the continent. It is necessary to act urgently to safeguard the health of citizens, introducing effective and integrated policies that affect the various sources of smog, from mobility to heating of buildings, from industry to agriculture. In the urban context, the promotion of concrete actions on sustainable mobility is essential through important investments in public transport, the redesign of the city space with pedestrianization and 30 zones, policies to promote the use of two wheels in safety, the diffusion of recharging networks for electric vehicles, facilitating the decision to greatly reduce the use of the private car. We ask the Government, the Regions and the Municipalities to implement courageous actions to create cleaner and safer cities. Health is a fundamental right that cannot be compromised”.

Legambiente’s proposals

To combat pollution in urban areas, the association proposes a series of “city-friendly” interventions:

• The transition from the Ztl (limited traffic zones) to the ZEZ (zero emission zones). As demonstrated by the experience of Milan (with area B) and, above all, of the ultra Low Emission Zone in London, the restrictions on the circulation of the most polluting vehicles reduce traffic emissions by 30% and 40%.

• LEZ also for heating. We need a major energy redevelopment plan for public and private buildings, and to encourage a drastic conversion of zero-emission homes thanks to the widespread diffusion of structural measures, such as the Superbonus, appropriately corrected by past mistakes such as the incentives to replace boilers gas.

• Enhancement of Public Transport and Rapid Mass Transit (TRM) through the quadrupling of the line offer and the promotion of integrated season tickets, as Germany did in the summer of 2022.

• Sharing mobility. Encourage shared electric mobility (micro, bicycles, cars, vans and cargo bikes) and build and build a further 16,000 km of cycle paths.

• Redesign urban public space on a human scale, “15 minute city”, road safety towards “Vision Zero”, “30 city” per hour following the example of Cesena, Turin, Bologna and Milan.

• All electric in the city, even before 2035, thanks to the progressive extension of the ZEZs to the tripling of the registration of electric buses and the establishment of ZED (Zero Emissions Distribution) districts.

The Clean Cities campaign

The “Clean Cities” traveling campaign, organized by Legambiente, is back from 1 February to 2 March. The initiative, carried out as part of the Clean Cities Campaign, a European coalition of NGOs and civil society organizations, will stop in 17 Italian cities to promote sustainable and zero-emission mobility and to ask for cleaner and more livable cities.

The first stage, on February 1st, will be right in the black jersey city according to the Legambiente report, Turin (1 and 2), to then move on to Genoa (February 6 and 7), Milan (February 8 and 9), Bergamo ( February 10), Bari (February 13 and 14), Naples (February 15), Avellino (February 16), Rome (February 17 and 20), Pescara (February 17), Bologna (February 18), Padua (February 22), Perugia (February 23 and 24), Trieste (February 25), Palermo (February 25), Catania (February 27), Prato (February 27 and 28) and Florence (March 1 and 2). During the stages, meetings will be organized with representatives of local administrations, experts and citizens to discuss the challenges related to sustainable mobility in the various urban contexts, both in public initiatives such as flash mobs, principals, bike to school activities.