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Rome – In response to persistently high levels of air pollution, temporary restrictions were enforced in northern Italy, particularly in the Lombardy region, on Tuesday.
The measures were initiated after air quality indicators surpassed the limits set by domestic and European legislation for particulate matter and other pollutants for four consecutive days, regional authorities announced.
A Level-1 ban came into effect in eight provinces of Lombardy, including the regional capital Milan, early on Tuesday. This ban prohibits all Euro 0 and Euro 1 vehicles, as well as Euro 2, Euro 3, and Euro 4 diesel vehicles in urban areas with more than 30,000 inhabitants from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Euro emissions standards, ranging from Euro 0 to Euro 6, are established by the European Union to regulate the exhaust emissions of newly-sold vehicles, limiting the release of harmful gases and particles into the environment.
In addition to vehicle restrictions, Lombardy authorities have prohibited heating homes above 19 degrees Celsius, using wood generators for domestic heating, and spreading fertilisers and slurry on land in farms.
Similar restrictions were imposed in the western Piedmont region, where diesel vehicles from Euro 3 to Euro 5 were banned in Turin and surrounding areas until at least Wednesday.
These measures were implemented based on air pollution data collected across Italy.
According to data released on Tuesday by IQAir, a Swiss company providing air quality monitoring, the concentration of PM2.5 in Milan currently exceeds the World Health Organisation’s annual air quality guideline value by approximately 20 times, making it one of the most polluted cities in the world.
