Tackling air pollution is priority for European urban mobility professionals

POLIS network gathers in Rotterdam

European cities should work together to improve air quality by encouraging the use of cleaner fuelled vehicles, better transport infrastructure and providing alternatives to the car, a major conference in the Netherlands has heard this week.

Over 450 urban mobility professionals from across Europe gathered in the Dutch city of Rotterdam for the 2016 Annual Polis Conference. Polis is a network of European cities and regions working together to develop innovative technologies and policies for local transport.

The opening plenary session saw representatives from Rotterdam, Madrid and Paris discuss how they were encouraging cleaner modes of transport as way of addressing air pollution. They were joined by representatives from the car industry and the European Commission.

The panellists acknowledged that global efforts to lower emissions cannot be limited to CO2 reduction. The cities called for nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter and other emissions harmful to citizens’ health to be addressed in an integrated way and committed to take further action to clean fleets and reduce emissions.

Polis secretary general Karen Vancluysen set out the scale of the problem facing cities. “The World Health Organisation estimates that only one person in ten worldwide breathes air in conformity with WHO recommendations."

Rotterdam’s vice-mayor Pex Langenberg, who is also president of Polis, discussed how the host city has been promoting sustainable transport for many years, both locally and through cooperation across borders. Initiatives include the city’s plan for zero emission urban logistics by 2020, its electro-mobility and charging infrastructure strategy, and a range of ITS activities.

Christophe Najdovski, Paris’s deputy mayor for transport, said: “In Paris, road traffic represents the main source of harmful emissions. The best way to improve air quality is to massively increase cycling and walking: It is a policy that leads to healthier citizens.”

Joanna Drake, European Commission (EC) deputy director-general for environment, acknowledged that the EC can play a stronger role in tackling pollution. “Cities can’t do it alone,” she said. “To date the commission has carried out infringement procedures towards member states failing to meet air quality levels. But we have to do more and work on integrated planning that can lever real change.”

The panel discussed how the ‘Diesel Gate’ scandal, which saw car manufacturers using software to cheat emissions tests, had revealed significant uncertainty regarding cars’ actual emission levels. Panellist Wim Kleijn, global chief sales manager for Nissan, said: “We need to find a solution together for emission measurements.”

Using a live voting system, the conference delegates called for an independent European agency to undertake emission tests for vehicles.

The voting system was used to unanimously vote the city of Rotterdam as the president of the Polis network for a second term. The London European Partnership for Transport and the Dutch city region of Arnhem-Nijmegen were elected to join the Management Committee of Polis. Polis maintains a permanent secretariat located in Brussels.

The Polis policy paper Decarbonising Transport: The Perspective of European Regions and Cities (June 2016) can be found by clicking here