Paris considers radical measures to deal with smog

On Wednesday, March 18, the city of Paris saw the kind of air pollution that makes headlines in China. Plume Labs index, which monitors 60 cities worldwide for air pollution considers a score of 100 plus to be “harmful” and 150 to be “critical”. Last week Paris reached a score of 125, briefly topping cities like Dehli and Peking.

The pollution, which has become a problem in much of north-western France, has since dissipated enough to remove it from the top spot.

“We have pollution issues, but lots of other cities do too. Air quality in the French capital is generally better than a decade ago. It’s the wrong idea to compare a city at a certain moment when you have meteorological conditions that could make the pollution worse at that point,” Karine Leger, assistant director of Airparif in Paris, told France 24.

Airparif monitors air quality for the French Environment Ministry and supplies its data to Plume Labs.

The city declared that on Saturday, March 21 public transportation in the city would be free in an effort to cut down on air pollution in the short term. In the longer term the city is considering banning some of the highest polluting vehicles from the street and expand its current public transportation system.

In the longer term the city is considering stronger measures including banning some of the most polluting vehicles from the streets and expanding its public transportation system.

Weather is considered to be at least partially to blame for Wednesdays spike in pollution. The weather in Paris has been unusually dry for March and as the weather warms, more pollutants are finding their way into the air.

However, the French Association of Transport Users (FNAUT) is blaming “uninspired politicians” for a failure to take the problem seriously.

“We need long-term solutions including extra charges on heavy goods vehicles which the government backtracked from implementing last year. Paris also needs a congestion charge inside the city. This would reduce circulation and raise revenue. But all our politicians seem to do is wait for the rain and when it doesn’t come, they blame the weather for their failings,” said FNAUT spokesman Fabrice Michel.

Paris officials rejected the criticism, insisting that long-term solutions to the pollution problem were being considered.

“We’re already investing heavily in improving public transport and the most polluting cars [diesel cars made before 2001] will be banned starting in July. A big problem is the périphérique [city ring road] which is just about the busiest urban motorway in Europe. It’s used by a million cars a day, and we can’t just stop people from using it.”” said Christophe Najdovski, spokesman for the Paris’s transport commissioner, according to Paris 24.