Cities are responsible for more than 70% of global emissions that threaten the entire planet, according to the latest IPCC report which highlights that many urban communities in the Black Sea and the Middle East are facing some of the most serious effects due to climate change.
Bucharest is one of the most polluted European capitals, and the effects are seen not only in air quality measurements, but also in health issues.
“Romania is at the bottom of the ranking in terms of air quality. Bucharest is the fifth most polluted capital in the EU, after Warsaw, Zagreb, Athens and Sofia. I would say that it is a combination of factors that influence the situation we have today. The big problems are the traffic – and here it is a peculiarity somehow, because we have very old cars, an average use of the car is almost 17 years, versus 11.8 in Europe – and the fact that we import a lot of used cars from the west Europe, which is gradually trying to ban or tax more and more diesel and polluting engines. There is a great need for heating among the urban population, and the problem is not only in Bucharest, but also in other cities with CHPs that are not used at such a high rate as now 20-25 panpipes. They are gas power plants, efficient from a point of view, but which generate a very high pollution. We are also talking about illegal burning, slightly typical of Eastern Europe, in the vicinity of urban and large urban. That has a huge impact on air quality,” Andrei Covatariu, specialist in energy and climate change told Digi24.
Bucharest – 7 sq m of public green area per capita. European average – 18 sqm
Andrei Covatariu also said that the factor that does not help is the very small proportion of green areas.
“Bucharest as a landmark is 7 meters from the public green area per capita versus the European average which is 18sqm. We are talking about factors that could it helps air quality and I don’t, because the situation is the way it is. The urban planning area is very important for the years to come. We can plan, I mean the infrastructure, well in advance for the areas that will be developed around Bucharest, but it comes with a cost of time, electoral. It is complicated to develop an infrastructure and to convince of a future one, when we have problems in Bucharest. The traffic area is a problem, but it is difficult to apply measures like in the west, penalizing or taxing some types of engines, because the population still has relatively low purchasing power with Western Europe, again, it can generate a political problem”.