Pollution Costs 10 Billion Euros and Causes 8,200 Deaths

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently reminded Italians that the quality of their urban environment is abysmal. Among the four most polluted cities in Europe, three are Italian. After Plovdiv in Bulgaria, it's Torino, Brescia and Milano who head this unenviable ranking. And Milano's administrations have repeatedly tried over the years to curb smog, without success, evidently.
The problem is a lack of long-term vision when dealing with urban pollution. And resignation seems to be prevailing among citizens and administrators alike. Some seem to be thinking that growing concentrations of PM10 and NOx are inevitable by-products of economic development. However, WHO has calculated that 8,200 deaths are attributable to air pollution in Italy's 13 largest cities. 2,000 in Milano alone. All this translates into very large costs for society at large. Since the value of a human life is normally said to be worth €1.2 million, the social cost of pollution is almost €10 billion, and €2.4 billion just for Milano. And these enormous figures are probably underestimated, because the WHO report does not consider non-deadly chronic illnesses like asthma induced by smog and does not consider the whole metropolitan area. Italian cities have tried to fight pollution, but have done so half-heartedly and ineffectively. Regulating car traffic (which causes 50% of PM10 emissions) by establishing car-free zones and days have not yielded significant results. Alone among Italian cities, Milano has adopted the so-called Ecopass, basically a toll for cars entering the city's downtown. It has lowered by 17-18% the concentration of PM10 pollutants, and has benefited public health. Some studies say it has even been more effective than London's congestion charge. But a lot more needs to be done. Introducing a pollution tax discourages the use of highly-polluting SUVs and can raise receipts to fund the purchase of environmentally-friendly public transportation Lastly, land use in exurban areas must be limited. Urban dispersal increases average mileage of commuters with a consequent adverse environmental effect. Conversely, a more compact metropolitan area would ensure better mobility management and less car usage, and thus less pollution. If these interventions seem costly, one should consider that costs of €10 billion per year do perhaps call for much higher policy activism than what has been tried until now.