The impact on air quality of energy saving measures in the major cities signatories of the Covenant of Mayors initiative

Fabio Monforti-Ferrario,Albana Kona,Emanuela Peduzzi,Denise Pernigotti,Enrico Pisoni

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2018.06.001

Abstract

This study is a first attempt to evaluate how the major efforts made by several European cities in the frame of the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) initiative can impact the air pollution levels in the participating cities. CoM is by no mean one of the major cities initiatives aimed at mitigating climate change, supporting local authorities in the implementation of their climate action plans. Energy savings measures reported in the CoM cities' action plans have been analysed from the air quality perspective in order to find quantitative relations in the way local authorities deal with mitigation and how these practices are expected to have consequences on the air quality at urban level and finally positively impacting the citizens' health.In the paper, the air quality 2713 energy saving measures proposed by 146 cities located in 23 countries in the frame of the CoM are selected and their co-benefits for air quality and public health estimated by means of SHERPA, a fast modelling tool that mimics the behaviour of a full physically-based Chemical Transport Model. Besides evaluating the overall benefits of this subset of mitigation measures for the air quality, the study also investigates the relevance of some factors such as the implementation sector, the city size and the pollution levels in achieving the highest possible co-benefits. The results presented refer to the special field covered by the study, i.e. energy saving measures and are not automatically referable to other types of measures. Nevertheless, they clearly show how climate mitigation and air quality policies are deeply interconnected at the urban level.

Highlights

In this paper we have provided a first quantitative evaluation of the Air Quality (AQ) co-benefits of energy saving measures described by the Covenant of Mayors (CoM), probably currently one of the largest bottom-up coordinated societal action in Europe aimed at mitigating climate change
The availability of a relatively large number of robust data on mitigation actions and the use of a state-of-the-art mature air quality model designed for the urban scale provided estimates of the AQ co-benefits of policy measures originally designed with climate mitigation in mind
Statistical analysis has shown how AQ co-benefits are linearly dependent on Climate Change (CC) benefits, with different slopes and goodness-of-fit values depending on the sector targeted and the pollutant considered

Summary

Introduction

Recognizing the key role of cities and towns in the fight against climate change, and following the adoption of the 2020 EU Climate and Energy Package in 2008, the European Commission (EC) launched the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) initiative, to encourage local authorities to implement sustainable energy policies within their territories. In addition to actions on mitigation action on adaptation (climate risk assessment) have been included, leading to the so called Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP) (Bertoldi et al, 2018) In this contribution we focus on climate mitigation action plans with commitment targets for 2020, i.e. the SEAPs. The CoM framework foresees a three steps approach: carrying out an emission inventory, setting mitigation target as well as drawing a climate action plan and lastly, monitoring the progress towards the targets. The philosophy underpinning the CoM is that, based on the emission related to final energy consumption, local authorities are able to tailor the necessary actions for implementing energy savings and increasing the renewable energy deployment in their territories (Bertoldi et al, 2010)

Objectives

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion