TURIN. “Critic situation”. The two words used by the head of the Environmental Emissions and Risks sector of the Region, Aldo Leonardi, are the essence of the speech that emerged from the Legambiente Piemonte and Valle D’Aosta event “Let’s move well” which yesterday in Combo, in corso Regina, concluded the Italian path of the European project “Clean Cities Campaign”.
In fact, Piedmont remains one of the most polluted areas in Italy and Turin is in the top ten of the worst: 25 overruns of PM 10 on the 31 days of January. In the latest Legambiente report – “Air sickness” – the values of 238 control units for monitoring the air quality of 102 provincial capitals were analyzed. As for Turin, the annual average values, as in all Italian cities, are far from the WHO limit values which require reductions of Pm 10 by 51%, Pm 2.5 by 75% and oxides of nitrogen NO2 by 73%.
In fact, while respecting the current limits – in Turin the annual average is 31 micro grams per cubic meter for Pm 10 (limit 40), 20 micro grams of average for Pm 2.5 (limit of 25) and 37 for nitrogen oxides (limit 40) – the situation in the city is complicated. To realize this, it is necessary to concentrate on the values of the individual control units. As regards the PM10, for example, the Grassi control unit in Turin (after Milan) is the one that recorded the highest annual average in Italy in 2021: 36 micro grams per cubic meter, with peaks at 75. Also as regards nitrogen dioxide (NO2) data from two Turin power stations (Consolata with 43 micro grams per cubic meter on average and Rebaudengo 48) are among the worst in Italy with values well above the regulatory limit.
This latter indicator is particularly relevant because it is closely linked to the emissions of diesel engines, which are not only those of cars but more generally all engines that use a certain type of combustion. Even for Pm 2.5, the finest part of fine particles as well as the one that raises the greatest health concerns, none of the control units in the city (this happens at a national level) falls within the WHO parameters.
It is therefore difficult to imagine that Turin will be able to achieve the goal, set by the junta of Mayor Lo Russo, of becoming a climate-neutral city at the end of this decade. “Entering the list of one hundred European cities that are candidates to be climate-neutral by 2030 is a difficult challenge, but the objective of the policy must also be to set high goals: we cannot resign ourselves from the start”, says the Councilor for Mobility and Environmental Policy of the Municipality of Turin, Chiara Foglietta. “The city is trying to do its part on other fronts as well, for example by working to bring public transport back to rail.” A few examples? “Restore line 18 and bring line 25 to Grugliasco” explains Foglietta.
But it is not only the Municipality that is implementing policies that aim at environmental sustainability from the point of view of mobility. The Polytechnic, for example, is very active on this front. “In the face of the increase in the use of bicycles and electric cars – said Professor Bruno Dalla Chiara, coordinator of the Mobility area at the university -, it is necessary to deal with problems such as the increase in cyclists who are victims of road accidents and the need for more charging stations. One of the 4 floors of the future underground parking of the Politecnico will be entirely dedicated to recharging electric vehicles ». –