According to a new European study, the economic impact of exposure to PM2.5 in Lombardia amounts to approximately 33.4 billion euros per year, equivalent to 7.3 percent of regional GDP. The figure includes healthcare costs, loss of productivity and a deterioration in quality of life which, according to the association Cittadini per l'Aria, are partly attributable to insufficient regional policies, as previously highlighted by rulings from the European courts.

For this reason, the association has filed a complaint with the Regional Prosecutor's Office of the Corte dei Conti for Lombardia, requesting an investigation into any potential treasury liability linked to regional air quality policies.

The costs of PM2.5 in Lombardia

The study is titled "Italian (North), Lombardia Region Case Study: The health burden and the associated economic cost of PM2.5 in the Lombardia region in Italy" and is currently awaiting publication. It was produced as part of the VALESOR project (Valuation of Environmental Stressors), funded by the European Commission's Horizon Europe programme, and for the first time quantifies in economic terms the health impact on the Lombard population of exposure to PM2.5 alone — the fine particulate pollutant emitted by activities of anthropogenic origin.

The analysis, which refers to 2023, reveals that diseases and mortality linked to these pollutants cost Lombardia 33.4 billion euros every year — that is, 7.3 percent of GDP — as a result of direct healthcare costs, loss of productivity and a deterioration in quality of life. This represents a cost of 3,360 euros per citizen per year. Medical consultations, treatments, hospitalisations and medicines used by the regional health service to treat avoidable illnesses attributable to poor air quality alone account for expenditure of 1.4 billion euros per year.

According to the researchers' findings, the greatest cost at regional level relates to dementia, at over 2.3 billion euros per year, followed by Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, at 899 million euros.

Regional responsibilities?

Drawing on the study's findings, the non-profit association Cittadini per l'Aria has filed a complaint with the Regional Prosecutor's Office of the Corte dei Conti for Lombardia, asking it to shed light on any potential personal treasury liability on the part of the regional government's leadership.

In this context, reference is made to three rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning air quality in the region, along with three infringement proceedings still open in relation to the regional territory. The association also points to the persistent delays, which continue to this day, in the planning and monitoring of anti-pollution measures, the minimal funding allocated to key sectors such as transport, exemptions such as the 2024 waiver allowing the use of old, poorly performing biomass-burning appliances, and the increase — between 2016 and 2020 — of as many as 130,000 head of cattle in Lombard farms, which are already responsible for an enormous ammonia emission load associated with the formation of secondary PM2.5.

The comparison with France

Beyond the situation in Lombardia, the problem of pollution and the lack of action to reduce it appears to be national in character. In its complaint, Cittadini per l'Aria draws a parallel between the Italian case and that of France. The French Conseil d'État has, since 2015, condemned the French state in five separate rulings for failing to comply with European air quality limits. A total fine of 45 million euros led to the development of effective structural policies for a significant reduction in PM2.5 concentrations. The result is that between 2005 and 2023, the PM2.5 mortality rate in France fell by 66.4 percent, reaching 34.2 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, while in Italy the reduction stalled at 43.4 percent, with as many as 100.6 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.

"While Europe is advancing swiftly towards breathable air, Italy remains dramatically stuck in place and, instead of focusing on implementing incisive measures and policies, is studying how to seek exemptions from the new limits," says Anna Gerometta, president of Cittadini per l'Aria. "We believe that judicial oversight of the actions being taken is crucial and that it can help save at least some of the 43,000 innocent victims who die prematurely in our country every year due to fine particulate matter, and who give Italy the absolute record in the EU for air-related deaths, ahead of Poland and Germany".