European capitals call for more measures to combat pollution
Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Brussels and Lisbon sign a joint declaration calling on the European Commission to take firm action to combat pollution, with Europe taking adopting a firmer approach to support the efforts of cities and stay on course for the Euro 7 emissions standard.
The six European capitals find that the efforts being made by cities fall short is there is no firm policy from European authorities to improve air quality and energy efficiency and facilitate alternatives to private vehicles. Because of this, they insist on how important it is not to delay the implementation of the more restrictive Euro 7 standard beyond 2025 for reducing the impact of pollutant emissions, regarded as a highly important and necessary step in the success of low emission zones developed in urban areas all across Europe.
Air pollution is responsible for serious health problems such as asthma, diabetes, cardiovascular illnesses and cancer. It can also lead to premature births and affect the cognitive development of children. Pollution is responsible for over 300,000 deaths every year.
The manifesto comes just ahead of the World Climate Summit by the C40, the main global network of cities to tackle the climate emergency, which gets under way in Buenos Aires on Wednesday and is chaired by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. The Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, is the vice-chair for Europe.
