Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05ROME2763
2005-08-19 15:25:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Rome
Cable title:  

PARTICULATE MATTER AIR POLLUTION IN ITALY: AN

Tags:  SENV KSCA IT EU 
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UNCLAS ROME 002763 

SIPDIS


DEPT FOR OES/ENV, EUR/WE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV KSCA IT EU
SUBJECT: PARTICULATE MATTER AIR POLLUTION IN ITALY: AN
INTRACTABLE PROBLEM WITH NO EASY SOLUTION

UNCLAS ROME 002763

SIPDIS


DEPT FOR OES/ENV, EUR/WE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV KSCA IT EU
SUBJECT: PARTICULATE MATTER AIR POLLUTION IN ITALY: AN
INTRACTABLE PROBLEM WITH NO EASY SOLUTION


1. SUMMARY: Air pollution is a serious and intractable problem
in Italy, causes health problems, and shortens Italian life
spans. Emissions levels and particulate matter (PM)
concentrations are highest in Italy's northern industrial Po
Valley between Bologna, Milan and Turin. While industry and
vehicular traffic are the primary contributors to PM pollution
in the north, Italy's Mediterranean climate and airborne
materials like dust, volcanic dust, and marine spray also
contribute to high PM levels in the less industrial south. When
EU anti-air pollution guidelines and pollution limits came into
effect last January, Italy's PM emissions were above the EU
limits despite GOI programs to provide better air quality
monitoring, expand public transportation, and offer incentives
to reduce vehicular traffic. From January through March, Rome
and seven major cities imposed Sunday and/or alternate weekday
driving bans as temporary measures to reduce PM emissions from
the major source of PM air pollution, passenger vehicles, the
source of 70 percent of PM in Italy. After the shock of this
winter's draconian traffic bans, the GOI is tackling the problem
systematically. A ministerial decree established the National
Commission on the Atmospheric Pollution Emergency (CNEIA).
CNEIA, whose twelve working groups will announce findings in
September, has set the goal of reducing PM concentrations and
other related emissions by 30 percent to meet EU guidelines. In
addition, the Ministry of Environment (MOE) has created a group
of experts, representing the PM emitting and health sectors, to
address the critical industrial and transportation aspect of PM
pollution. END SUMMARY.

--------------
ITALY CONSISTENTLY OVER EU EMISSIONS LIMITS
--------------


2. EU Directive 1999/30/CE and its Italian counterpart,
ministerial decree 351, set the deadline for compliance with
annual EU-wide and Italian PM emission limits as of January 1,

2005. The limits require annual averages to be below 40
micrograms of PM emissions per cubic meter. Daily averages of
PM emissions must be below 50 micrograms per cubic meter, and
this limit must not be exceeded more than 35 days per year.
Since EU Directive 2001/839/EC, all EU member states must report
PM and other pollutant emission levels annually to the EC; this

directive also obliges members breaching limits to attain
specified target ranges by 2005 and 2010. However, there are no
penalties for non-compliance with either the EU or national
targets.

-------------- --------------
EARLY 2005 CITY CENTERS SHUT DOWN TO REDUCE POLLUTION
-------------- --------------


3. After EU anti-air pollution guidelines and pollution limits
went into effect on January 1, 2005, Rome and seven other major
cities imposed traffic bans in city centers to reduce PM
pollution from the main cause, vehicles. Every other Thursday
for twelve weeks, Rome alternately banned cars with even and odd
license plates from driving in the central area. Most
motorcycles, mopeds ("motorinos"),and Euro 4 environment-
friendly cars escaped the ban; but older diesel cars and other
excessive polluters like Euro 0 motorcycles were completely
banned. In February, still struggling to comply with EU
regulations, seven other Italian cities enforced similar traffic
bans every Sunday and fined drivers who did not respect the
imposed traffic bans.


--------------
ITALY'S CONTRIBUTION TO EU POLLUTION
--------------


4. In 2000, Italy contributed eleven percent of total EU PM10
emissions. (I can't find other countries' percentages. I found
this fact in an Italy specific article and I can't seem to find
any articles on the EU webpages, or in general, that compare the
EU member states PM emission percentages.) PM10 is particulate
matter pollution composed of larger particles, usually made of
natural or other primary substances. Primary substances are
natural particles such as salt or sand, while secondary
substances are compounds with natural substances and/or
pollutant gases formed in airborne chemical reactions or
cohesions. Italy contributed twelve percent of total EU PM2.5,
composed of smaller, usually secondary, particles and causes
more health risks than PM10. (Secondary particles are compounds
with natural substances and/or pollutant gases formed in
airborne chemical reactions or cohesions.) Only 78 percent of
total PM emissions in Italy, however, are actually emitted
nationally. Wind can carry PM2.5 especially far, and thus, all


of Italy is affected by PM2.5 emitted in other countries.

-------------- --------------
ITALY'S PM PROBLEM BLAME IT ON THE MOBILE SOCIETY
-------------- --------------


5. Overall, APAT, Italy's Environmental Protection Agency,
reports that transport causes 70 percent of all PM in Italy.
According to the "Italian Environment 2005" study, Italy's car-
to-person ratio in Italy is the highest in Europe 59.3 cars
for every 100 inhabitants. Additionally, nearly 45 percent of
Italy's commercial vehicles are older than ten years, the
highest in Europ; and they consequently pollute more. Despite
the fact that individual cars contribute less to PM, Italy's
great increase in automobiles, according to APAT, is responsible
e
for Italy's lack of progress in reducing PM emissions to EU-
acceptable levels. Also unique to Italy are its polluting
mopeds and motorbikes, "motorinos," that zip in and out of
traffic. While higher-polluting motorbikes have been subject to
traffic bans in many historic city centers during certain hours,
the EU has not passed stricter regulations on them because Italy
is the only member state with such a significant number of these
vehicles in use. Unfortunately for Italy, prospects for fewer
"motorinos" in the traffic mix are not in the cards. According
to the MOE, a more efficient (more buses versus expensive
electric buses),sufficient, and non-polluting public transport
system is years away in the cash-strapped regions. Expenses of
lower-polluting underground and light-rail public transport
systems are further compounded, given Italy's population and
antiquity densities in historic urban centers.

--------------
SERIOUS EFFECTS ON ITALIAN MORTALITY
--------------


6. While current life expectancies are 78 years for men and 84
years for women in Italy and 75.1 years for men and 81.6 years
for women in the EU overall, recent studies have shown that air
pollution is having more serious effects on life expectancy for
Italians than for other EU citizens. According to recent World
Health Organization (WHO) reports, every Italian loses nine
months of life, compared to only 8.6 on average for the rest of
the EU on account of exposure to PM. 106 Italians die every day
from the effects of PM. If Italy reduced PM air pollution to
the annual EU average limit of 40 micrograms per cubic meter,
every Italian would gain 3.4 months of life, meaning that from
now until 2020, Italy would avoid 12,000 deaths.


7. As for negative health effects, both PM10 and the smaller
PM2.5 can trigger irritating coughs, heart arrhythmias, blood
clots, strokes, cancerous tumors, and increased hospital stays
for those with existing cardiac or pulmonary problems. In 2000,
Italy spent 59 to 126 million euro paying for health care
related to the effects of PM. If it fully implements EU
legislation, Italy could lower that amount to 38 to 82 million
euro by 2020.

--------------
ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
--------------


8. Because wind can carry PM long distances, air pollution
often contributes to acidification of lakes and damages
sensitive forest and farm crops, thus reducing agricultural
revenue. Italy also suffers unquantified losses in tourism
revenues PM smog that causes monument erosion ("stone cancer")
and haze. Italy's slow economic growth in recent years makes
funds hard to come by to help mitigate these negative effects.
According to a June article in La Repubblica (a leading left-of-
center daily newspaper),the Interministerial Economic Planning
Committee (CIPE) only dedicates six percent of investments to
economic damage from PM pollution.

--------------
GOI EFFORTS TO REDUCE PM: CUTTING TOXICITY
--------------


9. To balance the picture, over the last fifteen years, Italy
successfully reduced pollutants that increase PM toxicity by
switching to unleaded fuel and using alternative energy sources,
like wind farms and substituting natural gas for oil. The
country has seen an 83 percent cut in sulfur emissions, a 70
percent cut in carbon monoxide, and similar decreases in
nitrogen emissions. While decreased sulphur and carbon
emissions could have contributed to falling PM emissions levels,
PM pollution emissions have not decreased for the last several


years because of the transport issues described earlier.

-------------- -
GOI EFFORTS TO REDUCE PM: MONITORING STATIONS
-------------- -


10. In 1994, the Italian Ministry of Atmospheric Pollution and
Mobility (IAM) updated its PM monitoring stations to conform to
EU standards, which required stations to be in more direct
contact with emissions. The MOE, however, noted that Italian
stations never passed through the same quality-guaranteeing
phases like stations in other EU member states. Now, at more
local levels, the MOE has extensive projects in place to
position monitor stations in the most "representative"
locations.

--------------
POLLUTION-REDUCTION INITIATIVES
--------------


11. Following the legislation passed in 1999 and 2000 that set
PM emission limits for 2005 and 2010, the MOE expanded public
transportation, created local and regional "mobility manager"
positions for the transport sector, and promoted methanol-based
gasoline. Since 1999, the MOE has spent at least 306.3 million
euro for vehicles, providing incentives and funds to individuals
and localities to buy electrical or hybrid cars. The government
initiative "Finance 2005" exempts biodiesel taxation 2005-2010.
In July, the MOE announced an allocation of ten million euro for
car-sharing initiatives. In the last twelve months, the number
of people participating in car-sharing has nearly doubled from
2,200 to 4,300.

--------------
NEW COMMISSION FORMED
--------------


12. The National Commission for the Atmospheric Pollution
Emergency (CNEIA),created in March, is the GOI's latest
initiative to tackle the problem. CNEIA has determined that PM
concentrations and those of all other related emissions must be
reduced by 30 percent nationally to reduce annual average
concentrations for Italy to meet the EU limits. CNEIA has
twelve working groups that will announce findings and plans for
reducing Italy's PM emissions in September. The CNEIA will
collect and interpret PM pollutant information from Italy's
regions as well as from the EU. The new body will also
formulate workable, technological and organizational ways to
reduce PM emissions. Bruno Agricola, MOE Director General for
Environmental Safety, has created an additional permanent group
of experts from the critical emitting sectors and health sectors
to work with the Commission to create more air-friendly
industrial and transport processes.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


13. The GOI faces a serious challenge to reduce PM emissions,
given the transport sector's heavy (70 percent) contribution to
air pollution as a result of Italy's high car-to-inhabitant
ratio, the high average age of Italy's commercial vehicles, and
the popularity of "motorinos" in congested city centers. The
Ministry of Environment experts we consulted thought that
programs would only be effective if the GOI could make the
population aware of the hazardous health effects of PM and the
significant contribution of vehicular transport to air
pollution. A recent study by the Institute of Public Opinion
Studies (ISPO),however, revealed that the majority of Italians
do realize that they are contributing to health-damaging air
pollution, but they are not willing to drive less because they
consider public transportation inefficient and parking around
public transportation to be lacking. In addition, the GOI may
have a harder time convincing people to use public
transportation alternatives in light of recent transportation-
related terrorist attacks in Europe. With the establishment of
the National Commission for the Atmospheric Pollution Emergency,
the GOI has taken a step in the right direction by reformulating
existing public awareness, transport, and energy programs that
target PM pollution into a comprehensive and effective strategy
designed to bring Italy into compliance with EU PM limits. END
COMMENT.


14. This message was drafted by ECON-SCI intern Michelle
Lanspa.
SPOGLI


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2005ROME02763 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED