Owing to its green program that covers the transportation sector, Vienna has been declared Europe’s third most sootfree city. Among 23 cities in the European continent, the Austrian capital scored high for its environmental efforts such as in fighting air pollution.
The Sootfree Cities survey is done by the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and this year, it gave Vienna a score of 84. The EEB particularly took note of the city’s high share of parks and green zones, advanced public transport system and its aggressive promotion of cycling and walking in getting around town.
Among Vienna’s great features are its yearly travel card for public transport. The cost of each card at 365 Euro is cheaper than the average in the Europe at 660 Euro.
The European Environmental Bureau evaluates cities in the continent every year based on nine transport-related categories. These include traffic management, sustainable transport and economic incentives. The Bureau continues to call on European cities to exert more effort in cutting pollution in their adding that air pollution causes nearly half a million premature deaths in the European Union each year. It also noted that the worst areas with a high level of air pollution normally have high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, ozone and particular matter.
