“Polluted air in 85% of Italian cities: here are the worst and the most virtuous. Milan, estimates +568 deaths from non-standard diesel”

L ‘85% of Italian cities do not respect air quality standards: the most polluted are Turin, Rome, Palermo, Milan and Como, which between 2014 and 2018 never met even one of the parameters established by the WHO. Instead, the most virtuous is Sassari: the ‘report card’ is contained in Legambiente’s new report ‘Mal’aria’ that analyzes contamination over a five-year period.

The report, presented on the eve of the entry into force of anti-smog measures based on the agreement for the Po Valley areas, examines the pollution levels of 97 Italian cities, comparing the annual mean concentrations of fine powder (Pm10 and Pm2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). “Only 15% of cities have achieved a sufficient vote in five years,” he explains. Sassari (Grade 9), Macerata (eighth grade), Enna, Campobasso, Catanzaro, Grosseto, Nuoro, Verbania and Viterbo (grade 7), L’Aquila, Aosta, Belluno, Bolzano, Gorizia and Trapani (grade 6) “.

“To protect People’s health – declares Giorgio Zampetti, General Manager of Legambiente – we need to have courage and consistency, defining the priorities to face and finance. Cities are at the center of this challenge. We need a different policy than that you don’t just think about traffic blocks and weak and sporadic anti-smog measures. The Italian government, thanks to the recovery fund, has a unique opportunity to truly modernize the country, choose the path of the fight against the climate crisis“. The tools to encourage, according to Zampetti, are the use of public transport, the network of sharing mobility and bike and pedestrian lanes.

Milan “Diesel Outlaw” – Milan is also at the bottom of the ranking, with a score of zero: in five years it has not met a single one of the required parameters. Not only that: the report also contains a focus on cars that suggests that diesel vehicles They emit more than required by the regulations. If everyone complied with the rules, explains the report “Nitrogen dioxide pollution, as an annual average, would be within the European air quality limits. Instead, non-compliance led to estimated 568 deaths more for the city of Milan alone, due to exposure “outside the law” “only for one year”. The focus cites the study carried out by an Italian consortium that includes consultants (Arianet, modeling), doctors and epidemiologists (Isde Italia, Medici per l’Ambiente), Legambiente and the MobileReporter platform.

The focus – explained – is dedicated toand cars as the main source of pollution in the city and recalls that “illegal emissions from diesel cars continue to cause an increase in mortality.” The aforementioned study – Legambiente explains – “estimates for the first time the proportion of pollution in Milan attributable to the emissions of diesel cars that exceed in actual use the limits established in the laboratory tests on commercialization ”. According to Legambiente, therefore, “stop all too polluting diesel vehicles, even the Euro 6Cs were sold until August 2019 ″. The study is part of the “broader cross-border initiative on urban traffic pollution ‘Clean air for health’, a project launched by the European Public Health Association (Epha)”, and involves partners in several EU Member States. EU.