A new study has investigated the health benefits of improving the air quality around Barcelona, by reducing traffic and by electrifying the city’s busy port.
Focusing on NO2 emissions, the team from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health created three scenarios based Barcelona’s Urban Mobility Plan (UMP).
The first of these applied all the measures included in the UMP (eg: superblocks, a Low Emission Zone and a greening project) but assumed that there would be no reduction in the number of cars on the road.
The second was as above, but with the number of cars on the road reduced by 25% (balanced by an increase in the use of public transport).
The third was as above, but with the added benefit of port electrification, which will be mandatory by 2030. Under this, passenger ships and container vessels will be required to use on-shore power supply for all their electricity while moored at quaysides in major EU ports.
Modelling predicted that the first scenario would result in NO2 emissions being reduced by 5.9%, which the team equated with the prevention of 67 premature deaths annually.
The second scenario led to a 17.6% reduction in NO2, preventing 199 premature deaths, while the additional electrification of the city’s port would lead to a 19.4% reduction in NO2, preventing 228 deaths
Ana Ramos, ISGlobal researcher and first author of the study said: ‘Although the preventable mortality we estimate is significant, none of the scenarios proposed in our study would be able to comply with the new NO2 limits proposed by the European Union in its new air quality directive, which will come into force in 2030. This suggests that we must do more and do it more effectively in order to improve the air quality in our city.
Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, director of ISGlobal’s Climate, Air Pollution, Nature and Urban Health programme, observed: ‘This study focuses on Barcelona, but it also sets an example for other cities to understand the impact that targeted policies can have on reducing air pollution.
Marc Guevara, leader of the atmospheric emissions modelling team at the BSC. added: ‘The study focuses only on the impact of these measures on NO2 levels, but it is hoped that they will also have a positive effect on the climate in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.’
The full research can be read here.