Paris Got Serious, and Cleaned Up Its Air

Paris just got some good news: Those roaming its streets are breathing in much cleaner air than a couple of decades ago. A new report from the independent air-quality monitoring group Airparif reveals that the City of Light has seen a 50% drop in nitrogen dioxide levels since 2005, as well as a 55% drop in levels of fine particulate matter, or PM2.5. Airparif notes that "regulations and public policies"—including traffic restrictions, more pedestrian zones, and bans on vehicles that add most to the pollution—are to thank for the purer air.

Per the Washington Post, PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide have both been linked to various health issues, including asthma, lung cancer, bronchitis, and heart attacks. Paris' push to tamp down on the contaminants, however, has apparently helped substantially, with Airparif noting that the number of early deaths in the city from air pollution fell by a third between 2010 and 2019. It's an "urban policy based on well-being," Carlos Moreno, a professor at Paris' Sorbonne, tells the paper.

Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo has been a big supporter, advocating for a "Paris that breathes, a Paris that is more agreeable to live in," per the Post. And "despite the progress observed, air pollution remains responsible for significant impacts on health" in France, according to Airparif, which adds that "at least a quarter of premature deaths due to air pollution could be avoided if future European limit values were respected." Per RFI, the study found that low-altitude ozone levels haven't dropped during the same time period, as ozone-encouraging global warming has wiped out any gains made by decreasing emissions. (More Paris stories.)