Milan announces clean air partnership and will monitor air quality around schools
Italy’s second most populous city will work with Bloomberg Philanthropies to deploy low-cost sensors at schools to better understand children’s exposure to air pollution.
The monitoring network will help to develop hyperlocal data on air quality
The City of Milan is collaborating with Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Agency for Mobility Environment and Territory (Amat) on a clean air partnership to better understand and improve air quality around schools in Italy’s second-most populous city.
The pilot will deploy a local air quality monitoring network with the installation of low-cost sensors at schools to measure air pollution levels at 50 schools and 10 priority sites over a period of two years.
Hyperlocal data
The initiative also comes in support of the European Union’s zero pollution ambition set in the European Green Deal.
As part of this project, Amat, the city’s agency delegated for local air quality monitoring, will develop hyperlocal data on air quality with a digital platform to provide information to the City administration for planning purposes and to schools, parents, and the wider community to increase citizens’ awareness on air pollution.
As part of this initiative, the Italian Climate Network, in partnership with publishing house Edizioni Ambiente, will launch an educational campaign in schools across Milan. The data and other resources will be used to help students and their families improve their understanding on the sources of pollution and the importance of clean air.
“Milan is at a geographical disadvantage in terms of air stagnation and pollution concentration. Air quality is therefore a key environmental objective”
Milan is among the top 10 EU cities with the highest costs and mortality burden stemming from air pollution. Mayor Giuseppe Sala, Milan is taking action to tackle the problem with a voluntary Air Quality and Climate Plan, restricting polluting vehicles, committing to create a zero-emission area in the city centre by 2030, abiding to the C40 Fossil-Fuel-Free Streets Declaration and strengthening air quality monitoring.
“Milan is at a geographical disadvantage in terms of air stagnation and pollution concentration,” said Sala, who is also chair of the C40 Global Mayors Covid-19 Recovery Task Force. “Air quality is therefore a key environmental objective. This is why Milan did not stop at defining a climate plan: we made it an Air Quality and Climate Plan.”
The latest project in Milan builds on Bloomberg Philanthropies’ engagement with local partners and local authorities to design and lead impactful projects that can accelerate action to end air pollution. It is also working with London, Brussels, Paris, Mumbai, and Jakarta.
“Achieving clean, healthy air is a challenge for cities around the world, with more than 90 per cent of cities exceeding the WHO-recommended air pollution levels,” said Adam Freed, principal at Bloomberg Associates and an advisor to Milan on climate and sustainability initiatives.
“This new monitoring initiative and the municipality’s recently adopted Climate and Air Quality Plan are critical, data-driven actions that put Milan on the pathway to achieve clean air and protect people’s health.”
The Agency for Mobility Environment and Territory is a consulting company, totally owned by the City of Milan, committed to providing strategic planning and technical studies for air quality improvement, urban mobility and environment quality.
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