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Bucharest, the second at European level for social costs generated by pollution
Air pollution costs 166 billion euro per year in Europe, according to a report published on Wednesday which examined the costs of premature death, care and loss of working days in 432 European Cities, informs AFP.
This report, made by the research and consultancy firm CE Delft with headquarters in Brussels for the European Alliance for Public Health (EPHA) analysed the situation of 432 cities in the 27 countries in the EU as well as in the UK, Norway and Switzerland.
The study compares the three main pollutants for air – particles, nitrogen dioxide and ozone – as well as the social costs for those, namely the direct costs connected to care and indirect such as the reduction of life expectancy or illnesses such as severe chronic bronchitis.
London is the first ( 11. Billion euro) followed by Bucharest (6.3 billion euro) Berlin (5.2 billion euro) and Warsaw ( 4.2 billion euro).The capital city of France is seventh ( 3.5 billion euro).
‘Our study shows that toxic air is damaging for health, but there are significant inequalities which exist between the different countries in Europe’ said the general secretary for EPHA Sasha Marschang, quoted in a press release of the French association Respire.
‘The situation can be improved by public policies in the domain of transport, and the cities can reduce their costs by encouraging non-pollutant mobilities’ appreciated Marschang.
Air pollution in cities is caused by multiple factors: transport, house heating, or industrial and agricultural activities. Although it is difficult to evaluate the share of each factor, the report analysed the influence of transport and estimated that an increase by 1% of the number of cars in a city increases the social costs by almost 0.5%.
Air pollution is responsible for the premature death of 480,000 people in Europe, according to the European Agency for Environment (AEM) balance which could be underestimated.