Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Grandi: "Fundamental guiding tool to give more strength to the creation of a resilient, less polluted, greener, sustainable and attentive to people's health and well-being Milan"

Milan, February 21 2022 – Milan focuses on environmental transition, sustainability and attention to the health of citizens to fight the climate and environmental crisis, mitigate its effects and design the future. With 28 votes in favor and 12 against, the Air and Climate Plan (PAC), the strategic vision document for the adaptation of the city of Milan to climate change and for achieving, in over the period 2021÷2050, of the elimination of climate-altering emissions.

Presented in the Chamber on 10 January, the provision was included in the program for 13 sessions and accompanied by over 800 amendments, also born from the 607 observations and related counterarguments received by the Administration thanks to the online public consultation platform and the participatory process that involved, during 2021, individual citizens, associations, bodies and companies present in the area.

The PAC is divided into five areas - Health, Connection and accessibility, Energy, Adaptation to climate change, Awareness - and for each area actions are planned to improve the quality of life in the city: from the reduction of polluting emissions to the achievement of neutrality carbon, through the containment of risks linked to climate change, the valorisation of the circular and sustainable economy up to the adoption of conscious and responsible lifestyles. Systemic and synergistic actions aimed at all citizens with particular attention to those who are more fragile in terms of age, socio-economic situation and state of health.

"Thanks to the definitive approval of the PAC by the City Council – comments the Councilor for the Environment and Green, Elena Grandi – now the Administration, the economic and social operators, the citizens have at their disposal a fundamental tool for plan, direct and implement an increasingly resilient and green urban development model, which will lead Milan to be a carbon neutral city in 2050 as indicated by European directives and to respect the limits of pollutant levels that the WHO has made a few months ago more stringent. These are therefore actions that can no longer be postponed. Actions also strongly requested by the citizens who contributed substantially to the development of the document".

"In the PAC – continues the councilor – the actions and interventions that must be implemented with a view to an increasingly sustainable, green, welcoming and inclusive city are indicated and subjected to temporal checks. Actions that will also have a positive impact on regulations and on mobility and territorial governance plans. The plan, together with the resources we will be able to use through PNRR funding, will be the tool with which Milan will be able to overcome the great challenge we face, that of making our city our own. a model for the ecological transition".

Among the most relevant interventions introduced by the application of the CAP is the gradual creation of a cycle-pedestrian city, a 30 km per hour city, in line with the vision of a carbon neutral city capable of combating climate change, which substantially limits vehicular traffic. With this in mind, starting from October 2022 and in line with what is already provided for in the Area B limitations, vehicles considered to be the most polluting will gradually be excluded from access to the city, starting with Euro 5 diesels.

Furthermore, to encourage the gradual reduction of CO2 emissions by up to 45% by 2030, the energy requalification of public heritage buildings will be started, starting with the pilot project which involves the gradual installation of over 60 thousand m10 of photovoltaic panels equal to to XNUMXMW to cover the Administration's energy consumption in schools, public housing and public offices. Still on the subject of energy saving, support for the maintenance and control of private heating systems will also be fundamental, in the wake of what has already been implemented with the "Boiler Notice" aimed at Milanese families.

The fight against climate change and the containment of the rise in urban temperatures will also be implemented through the reduction of the phenomenon of heat islands, through the depaving of soils, the protection and enhancement of green spaces. The guidelines provided by the CAP provide for the constant increase of urban greenery; for this reason, existing projects will be implemented such as ForestaMI which, to date, has planted over 280 thousand trees throughout the metropolitan area, as well as supporting the construction of green roofs and walls in the city. The system of parks and gardens with their biodiversity heritage is also enhanced and connected.

A greater commitment is also expected in the depaving actions of areas currently used for parking, such as for example the tree-lined parterres of the city avenues, which will have to become green and usable spaces, capable of promoting the cooling of the city and the absorption of rainwater on the in the wake of what is happening with the redevelopment of Via Pacini or thanks to the School Oasis project which involves the regeneration of the external spaces of schools and the creation of equipped green areas capable of welcoming students and residents after class hours, involving at least one school for each municipality by 2030. For sensitive areas, adjacent to schools and hospitals, starting next year, priority must be given to the creation of areas that allow privileged access to pedestrians, bicycles and scooters until they become real "Zone 30 "; at the same time, large limited traffic zones will be created in each neighborhood.

Thanks to active collaboration with municipalities, associations, neighborhood committees and groups of citizens and city users, integrated communication actions and local good practices will also be implemented aimed at informing and raising awareness of the effects of climate change and the need of the implementation of increasingly sustainable lifestyles and consumption consistent with the protection of the environment and the city's resources in the name of the circular economy.