The new antismog agreement for the improvement of air quality in the Po Basin was signed in Bologna

The international launch conference of PREPAIR ended with an important institutional moment: the Italian Minister of the Environment Gian Luca Galletti together with the regions of Emilia Romagna, Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto signed the “New agreement for the coordinated adoption of measures for the improvement of air quality in the Po Basin”. Heart of this agreement is the common fight against air pollution, a particular intense problem in Northern Italy. The agreement aims at structural measures to be developed in the same way within the four regions – homogeneous rules of access in the “limited traffic zones”, car-sharing,  cycle-pedestrian mobility, diffuse distribution of alternative fuels, restrictions on circulation – in order to give concrete answers to an area of over 23 million residents (40% of the Italian population).  The management of emergency situations related to the overcoming of the PM10 pollution limits has also been shared, with common and homogeneous temporary prohibitions.

The agreement has been signed by the Italian Minister of the Environment, Gian Luca Galletti, and by the Presidents of the Emilia-Romagna Region, Stefano Bonaccini, and Piedmont Region, Sergio Chiamparino, and by the regional environmental ministers of Lombardy Region, Claudia Terzi, and Veneto Region, Gianpaolo Bottacin. The regional environmental ministers of Emilia-Romagna, Paola Gazzolo, and Piedmont, Alberto Valmaggia, were also there.