Uswitch: In these EU cities, air quality changed the most

Uswitch has examined several EU metropolises for changes in their air quality between 2019 and 2021 and has found some interesting results. The study investigated which city is suffering the most from deteriorating air quality and urgently needs to switch to electromobility. The results were as expected – both positively and negatively: Reykjavik in Iceland, of all places, now has the largest increase in air pollution, indicating that traffic there has increased and the air has generally become worse.

Reykjavik tops the list with an increase in air pollutants of 13.99 percent between 2019 and 2021. Nevertheless, the Icelandic capital has the lowest PM2.5 pollution (an air pollutant that damages our lungs at high levels) of all the cities studied – an average of only 14.65 units over three years. Only 1.75 percent better is Budapest, with an increase in air pollutants of 12.24 percent. This suggests that the switch to electric vehicles should be promoted in the city, as air pollution continued to rise even in 2020, the year of pandemic lockdowns. Tallinn follows: Air pollutants in the Estonian capital rose 1.18 percent less than in Budapest (11.06 percent). Fourth place goes to the Spanish capital Madrid. However, air pollutants here only increased by 2.90 percent between 2019 and 2021.

But there are also positive developments: The most significant improvement in air pollution was in Athens, Greece, where air pollution decreased by 34.85 percent. This was followed by Dublin, where the air quality improved by 24.76 percent. In third place is Stockholm, which saw an improvement of 18.05 percent.

All detailed information can be found at:

https://www.uswitch.com/electric-car/ev-charging/EU-capitals-with-reduced-air-pollution/

What does that mean?

Unfortunately, air pollution in Europe presents a mixed picture: On the positive side, Uswitch has identified more improvements than deteriorations, and the improvements have been proportionally greater than the deteriorations. Nevertheless, the issue remains pressing—especially considering that the data includes the lockdown period, during which traffic significantly decreased.