The paper "Evaluation of mitigation measures for air quality in Italy in 2020 and 2030", by Ilaria D'Elia, Antonio Piersanti, Gino Briganti, Andrea Cappelletti, Luisella Ciancarella and Emanuele Peschi has been published on Atmospheric Pollution Research (link).

 

The article reports the preliminary assessment of the Po Basin Agreement for the reduction of air pollution in Northern Italy, signed on December 19th, 2013 in Milan by the Italian Ministries of Environment, Economic Development, Infrastructures and Transport, Agriculture and Health, e by the regions and autonomous provinces of the Po Valley (Lombardia, Emilia Romagna, Piemonte, Veneto, Valle d’Aosta, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Trento and Bolzano).

The study used the MINNI model to evaluate some realistic assumptions of emission reduction measures in the sectors of domestic heating (namely the environmental certification of biomass-fired stoves and boilers), of road traffic (namely the spread of electric vehicles and the reduction of the speed limit on motorways) and agriculture (in particular a more efficient use of fertilizers and a hypoproteic diet for cattle).

The impact on air quality in Italy, estimated on the years 2020 and 2030 and on the pollutants critical for law compliance (PM10, PM2.5, NO₂, O₃), shows appreciable improvements but not sufficient to comply, on the whole national territory, with the legal limits on the daily concentration of PM10 and O₃ and on the annual concentration of PM2.5.

 

The results of the evaluation indicate that the emissive sectors of domestic heating, road traffic and agriculture offer potential for emissions reduction policies, to be further elaborated within the new Po Basin Agreement of 9/6/2017.

 

contatti: Ilaria D'Elia, Antonio Piersanti, Luisella Ciancarella