Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Milan, November 17 2019 – Milan received the 2019 Sustainable Development Award, Green City Network category, for the introduction of the Environmental Meter. The Sustainable Development Award was established 11 years ago by the Foundation for Sustainable Development and the Italian Exhibition Group and has the patronage of the Ministry of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea and, moreover, it was awarded the Medal of President of the Republic. This year, for the first time, in addition to companies, Italian cities were awarded.

The Environmental Counter, states the motivation, is an easy-to-understand tool for understanding the advantages of good separate waste collection and recycling and measuring the yield immediately. Promoted by the Municipality, Amat, Conai, A2A Ambiente and Amsa, it calculated for the first time, for example, that in 2018 350 thousand tons of Co2, three million cubic meters of water and two thousand megawatts of electricity were saved. The same quantity allows an equivalent recovery of re-products: 14 million sweatshirts, 114 million new bottles, three million wrenches, 419 million shoe boxes, 224 thousand benches, 123 thousand wardrobes and 209 thousand moka coffee makers.

The Environmental Counter is a tool which, thanks to a methodology developed during Expo 2015, manages to quantify the environmental benefits of separate waste collection which in Milan has reached 65% of total waste, and of all recycling and recovery activities some waste. The new measurement model is based on the scientific method of Life Cycle Assessment for the evaluation of environmental impacts through the identification of energy consumption and materials, vehicles and equipment used, and consequently the emissions released into the atmosphere.

Milan also wins thanks to the complex of activities implemented in favor of sustainability: the introduction of the low emission zone, Area B, for the progressive limitation of the circulation of polluting vehicles; 100% electric public transport by 2030 and the development of sharing systems; the recovery of still edible food; the “Plastic Free” campaign; interventions for the regeneration of urban spaces and for the reduction of the carbon footprint and the increase in the capacity to adapt to events linked to climate change.