Cork leads the way in air quality

The Lord Mayor of Cork has said there is little room for complacency following the news that Cork has been ranked as the 15th cleanest city in Europe.

Cork is also the top city in Ireland for air quality, according to the latest report by the European Environment Agency (EEA).

However the Lord Mayor Cllr Dan Boyle said there are times of the year when pollution risks are too high and must be reduced.

This achievement positions Cork ahead of many other similar sized European cities. The cleanest air from 372 European cities was in Uppsala in Sweden.

Cork city recorded a level of 5.2 μg/m³, slightly above the World Health Organization's (WHO) guideline of 5 μg/m³.

“Our goal is to bring air quality in the city to comply with the WHO standards,” said the lord mayor.

This European city comparison is, the city council said, a positive outcome from the suite of air quality commitments and actions that have been undertaken in Cork over the past number of years.

This includes the delivery of Cork City’s Air Quality Strategy and the associated actions such as the creation of a Clean Air Zone, work on numerous citizen science and air quality outreach projects as well as Cork playing host to Clean Air Day.

Lord Mayor, Cllr Dan Boyle said: “It is encouraging that the efforts of Cork City Council to create better public awareness of the need to protect air quality, have begun to bear fruit. Cork compares well with similar sized European cities.”

Cork City Council said while the results from the European Air Quality Report are encouraging, it also serves as a reminder that there is still a body of work to be done in meeting the more stringent WHO limits for air quality.

Cork City Council also said it is committed to improving and expanding public and active travel, retrofitting its buildings and its housing stock and in promoting all available grant funding schemes for home energy upgrades.