Moscow among the cities with the lowest concentration of exhaust gases
Moscow improved its performance in the IQAir World Regional Capital City Ranking in terms of exhaust gas concentration and reached a level that meets the WHO requirements
Moscow took 70th place in the World Regional Capital City Ranking, having improved its position by 17 points since 2018. Now the Russian capital, along with Berlin, Stockholm and Helsinki, is among the cities that meet the WHO requirements for the concentration of particulate matter PM². 5. This was announced by Vladimir Yefimov, Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Economic Policy and Property and Land Relations.
PM 2.5 - particulate matter of dust, ash, soot, sulfates and nitrates less than 2.5 microns in size, suspended in the air, which leads to air pollution in metropolitan areas. Their main source is transport. The rating analyzed the situation with air pollution in 85 capitals. The lower the line of the rating on which the city is located, the better the situation with PM 2.5 particles in it.
The improvement of the environmental situation in the capital was greatly influenced by the reorganization of road traffic, including the creation of intercepting parking lots, measures to limit the passage of heavy vehicles to the city center. The development of public transport also contributes to a decrease in the concentration of harmful particles in the city's atmosphere: the launch of new metro stations, the creation and development of the MCC and MCD.
“Measures to support environmentally friendly transport are also helping to reduce the concentration of PM 2.5 in the air over Moscow: the transport tax on electric cars has been canceled for five years. Today, several hundred electric buses are already running along the roads of the capital, electric cars are being introduced into car sharing, and the number of private electric vehicles is growing. Tax incentives will make it possible to intensify this process,” stressed Denis Tikhonov, head of the Department of Economic Policy and City Development.
In Moscow, the atmospheric air monitoring system has been operating since 1996, and the concentration of suspended particles PM 2.5 has been measured since 2009. There are 56 automatic air pollution control stations in the capital. They are located in all districts of Moscow, at different distances from the city center and cover various functional areas.
The rating of cities in terms of the concentration of PM 2.5 particles in the air is made by the Swiss company IQAir AirVisual, a manufacturer of individual devices for measuring air quality. The study evaluates data from AirVisual Pro instruments and uses official data from organizations that monitor air quality in cities.
