The Covid-19 emergency has prompted many companies to adopt smart working. In 15 days, the air in Milan has become cleaner and CO2 emissions across the whole of the north have fallen.
Minus 33 per cent of pm10 and minus 31 per cent of NO2 in two weeks. These are the figures coming from Ispra, the Istituto superiore per la protezione e la ricerca ambientale, processed for fondazione Univerde and Opera2030 by Youthquake. The reason? Smart working.
Read also: Smog, 5 città italiane hanno già superato i livelli di pm10 per 18 volte nel 2020
The widespread recourse to smart working, agile working, and remote school and university education has had a significant impact on air quality in one of the most polluted areas in Europe.
From this new coronavirus emergency, our country will need to learn not only to support the national health system, which has been subject to absurd cuts in recent years, but will also need to invest in remote working and remote education through digital tools.
The resources made available by the government must on the one hand safeguard workers and entrepreneurs in the hardest-hit sectors and on the other must relaunch an economy of innovation and sustainability.
Let us also not forget that, according to data published in November 2019 by the authoritative scientific journal the Lancet, in Italy more than 45,600 deaths every year are linked to air pollution.
