Cities with the cleanest and dirtiest air named
Despite the reduction in transport emissions and emissions of other pollutants during the pandemic, air quality in most cities in the European Union remains poor.
Cities in Eastern Europe, where coal continues to be the main source of energy, have been hit hardest, The Guardian reports. Polish Nowy Sacz turned out to be the city with the most polluted air. It is followed by Cremona (Italy) and Slavonski Brod (Croatia).
The three cleanest cities were Umeå (Sweden), Tampere (Finland) and Funchal (Portugal).
The European Environment Agency compared data from 323 cities for 2019 and 2020 and found that only 127 of them, or about 40%, had levels of fine particulate matter, known as PM 2.5, below the World Health Organization’s recommended limits. … Of all the major sources of air pollution, PM 2.5 has the greatest health impact and causes more than 400,000 premature deaths per year across Europe.
