Air, only 5 Italians cities with decent quality: the EU Environment Agency’s list of PM2.5 rates

Brussels – Air quality is “fair” in five Italian cities; “moderate” for 29 and “poor” for 27. This emerges from the viewer of air quality in European cities that, published by the European Environment Agency (EEA), classifies 372 urban centres (with more than 50 thousand inhabitants) from cleanest to most polluted based on average levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), “the air pollutant with the greatest negative health impacts.”

The data, which were collected from more than 500 monitoring stations in urban locations in EEA member countries over the past two calendar years, 2022 and 2023, show that “only 13 European cities had average fine particulate matter concentrations below the World Health Organization (WHO) health-based guideline level of 5 micrograms per cubic meter of air (5 μg/m3).” Among these 13 cities which achieved the “good” rating for air quality, 11 are in northern Europe (Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Estonia, and Norway), and two are in Portugal. In addition, as many as four northern capitals are included: Reykjavik (Iceland), Tallinn (Estonia), Stockholm (Sweden), and Helsinki (Finland). If we look at the first positions, we see that the podium is in two colours: gold and silver, which go to Sweden’s Uppsala and Umea, and bronze, which goes to Portugal’s Faro.

The second group comprises 169 cities with average fine particulate concentrations between 5 μg/m3 and 10 μg/m3, with a “fair” air quality. A “moderate” quality (between 10 μg/m3 – 15 μg/m3) was recorded in 118 towns—third group—and “poor” in 71 (15 μg/m3 – 25 μg/m3). Only one city has “very poor” air quality, with amounts above 25 μg/m3: Croatia’s Slavonski Brod (with 26.5 μg/m3).

Among the capitals (besides the four already mentioned), the first to appear is Vilnius (24th), followed by Lisbon (38th), Dublin (39th), Oslo (42nd), and Luxembourg (53rd), while among those of the larger countries Madrid is 129th with 8.9 μg/m3; Paris is at position 199 with 10.5 μg/m3; Berlin at number 217 with 11 μg/m3; Rome 269th with 12.8 μg/m3; Warsaw is number 300 with 15 μg/m3. The EU capital, Brussels, is 172nd in the ranking with 9.8 μg/m3.

Looking at Italy in more detail, out of the 61 in the ranking, the city with the best air quality for PM2.5 is Sassari (21st), and the last is Cremona (370th). Five are those that get a “fair” rating: in addition to Sassari (6.2 μg/m3), Livorno (7.8 μg/m3), Savona (9.2 μg/m3), Battipaglia (9.6 μg/m3), and Syracuse (9.7 μg/m3).

Twenty-nine cities have “moderate” quality: Grosseto (10.1 μg/m3), Genoa (10.1 μg/m3), L’Aquila (10.3 μg/m3), Latina (10.7 μg/m3), Caserta (10.9 μg/m3), Salerno (11 μg/m3), Messina (11.2 μg/m3), La Spezia (11.3 μg/m3), Campobasso (11.4 μg/m3), Barletta (11.4 μg/m3), Foggia (11.5 μg/m3), Trieste (11.5 μg/m3), Perugia (11.5 μg/m3), Brindisi (11.7 μg/m3), Florence (11.9 μg/m3), Palermo (12.1 μg/m3), Bagheria (12.1 μg/m3), Ragusa (12.2 μg/m3), Catania (12.6 μg/m3), Pisa (12.6 μg/m3), Rome (12.8 μg/m3), Gela (13,1 μg/m3), Arezzo (13.2 μg/m3), Udine (13.6 μg/m3), Forli (13.7 μg/m3), Naples (13.7 μg/m3), Bologna (14.2 μg/m3), Pescara (14.3 μg/m3), Trento (14.9 μg/m3).

Twenty-seven are the Italian cities with “poor” air quality when it comes to PM2.5 levels: Lecco (15.2 μg/m3), Terni (15.2 μg/m3), Ancona (15.3 μg/m3), Parma (15.8 μg/m3), Prato (15.8 μg/m3), Ravenna (16.1 μg/m3), Rimini (16.3 μg/m3), Ferrara (16.3 μg/m3), Novara (16.8 μg/m3), Sassuolo (17 μg/m3), Verona (17.8 μg/m3), Reggio nell’Emilia (18.1 μg/m3), Pesaro (18.2 μg/m3), Modena (18,5 μg/m3), Asti (18.7 μg/m3), Pavia (19 μg/m3), Alessandria (19.3 μg/m3), Milan (19.7 μg/m3), Treviso (20.7 μg/m3), Brescia (20.7 μg/m3), Bergamo (20.9 μg/m3), Turin (21 μg/m3), Piacenza (22.2 μg/m3), Venice (22.6 μg/m3), Padua (22.7 μg/m3), Vicenza (23 μg/m3), Cremona (23.3 μg/m3).

Finally, EEA recalled that the European Green Deal’s Zero Pollution Action Plan sets a 2030 target of reducing premature deaths caused by fine particulate matter by at least 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels and a long-term goal of no significant health impacts by 2050.