fbpx
Tags Air pollution

Tag: air pollution

Skopje “celebrates” European Mobility Week with one million passengers less in the public transportation

Activities for marking the European Mobility Week have been taking place in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia these days, but along comes defeating data about how people are practising the sustainable urban mobility in their everyday trips. According to the latest data provided by JSP - Skopje, the capital's public transportation during the first half of the year transported...

North Macedonia last year invested €8 million in air quality protection, industry’s share was €1.3 million

Even though the air pollution in North Macedonia is a hot topic, the investments in air protection are scarce. Last year, around €8 million were registered as expenditures and investments in air quality protection, show the latest data provided by the State Statistical Office (SSO). The industry and the specialized producers throughout the country have invested in MKD 124,558,000...

The young should go into education for green jobs, qualified personnel lacking in all industries

The energy efficiency, the renewable sources of energy, the construction engineering, the agriculture, the waste treatment and the natural resources conservation are some of the areas that in the last few years have been creating a large number of green jobs. The concepts of sustainability and the circular economy are becoming part of almost every aspect of the everyday...

In single decade in North Macedonia 150,000 registered vehicles more, most of them pre-owned

From 350,762 registered vehicles in 2012 up to 500,633 vehicles with North Macedonia registry plates last year! In less than a decade, the number of vehicles traversing North Macedonia's roads has increased by 150,000. What is causing a great concern is that these are mostly older vehicles which are heavy polluters. The national data provided by the State Statistical Office...

Number of households in North Macedonia with cars twice bigger than those with bicycles

The statistics shows that the number of households that own a car is more than double the number of households with at least one bike. According to the data provided by the State Statistical Office (SSO), only 30.7% of the Macedonian households has owned a bicycle in 2020. This number is by 2.8% less compared to 2019, and owning...

Urban railway vital for Skopje to ease pressure from urbanization and congestion

One of the primary and instant solutions to ease the pressure from the "concretization" of the central areas of metropolitan cities in the developed countries is the development of fast, cheap, high-capacity and safe means of mass transportation of people from the city centers toward the suburban areas and vice versa. Due to the high speed of movement, the...

Improving air quality in Skopje needs more assets and stricter controls

In order to see tangible improvement of the air quality in Skopje in 2 to 3 years, bold and all-encompassing activities for solving the problem with air pollution are necessary, not just some minor assets from the budgets allocated each year for this purpose. The priority should be the decrease of the pollution with PM particles, and those that...

Government of North Macedonia approves cleanup of the Small lindane depot at OHIS

During its session on Tuesday, the Government of North Macedonia approved the plan for  cleaning up the smaller depot with lindane in the OHIS plant's yard. Five decades since thousands of tons of lindane (carcinogenic insecticide) were buried in the yard of this former chemical giant in the times of former Yugoslavia, its cleanup should finally start. Even though the...

Import of used vehicles below EURO 5 standard into North Macedonia continues

The import of used vehicles below the EURO 5 standard for emission of gases will continue in North Macedonia in the next several months. The Ministry of Economy has no decisive date when the rule books containing new technical requirements and specifications for the import of vehicles from abroad will be changed nor has it determined a deadline when...

Unless all four depots are cleaned, the lindane in OHIS will forever pose a threat to Skopje

Over 13 000 tons of dangerous lindane lay in the Small depot in the former chemical factory OHIS at the outskirts of Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia. But there are four times more (over 50 000 tons) in the Big depot and still unknown quantities of the toxic chemical, presumably in the ranges of thousands of tons, lay...

Balkans United for Clean Air: The public pressure a key tool to get information about air quality

The local and state institutions must inform the citizens in a timely manner, similarly to when the water quality in the supply system drops, or when the solar ultraviolet radiation increases. The public pressure remains a crucial factor in improving the monitoring system and fulfilling one's right to be informed about the pollution levels, stress the Balkans environmental organizations...

Everyone is talking about air pollution, but hardly anyone uses electric vehicles

Car usage in North Macedonia is on constant rise, while people's interest in using public transportation in urban settings is in huge decline, causing decline of numbers of passengers in the intercity trains and buses. The rate of the motorization in 2019 has reached 205.2 passenger vehicles to 1.000 citizens, even though in the previous decade, over 80% ...

Auditors say steps taken in past three years didn’t reduce air pollution in North Macedonia

Although a positive step, the activities toward reducing the air pollution in North Macedonia which were undertaken in the past three years did not reach the set goals and did not provide the desired effect, declares the State Audit Office - SAO of North Macedonia in its final audit report on the monitoring of the recommendations given by the...

North Macedonia this year will ban import of used cars below the EURO 5 standard

During yesterday's conference titled "Vision for Energy Transition 2040," Kreshnik Bekteshi, the Minister of Economy announced that this year North Macedonia will ban the import of used cars below the EURO 5 standard of gas emissions. "This year, the norms for imported cars in our country will be expanded. Regarding the measures, we are already implementing several measures for installing...

The best options for lower exposure to PM particles is to go on foot or ride a bike when the air is clean or by bus when the air...

On foot or riding a bike are the best options when the air pollution is low, and vice versa, these are the riskiest exposures to PM particles when the air pollution concentrations are high, shows the research conducted by an expert team from the Goce Delchev University of Shtip, North Macedonia in collaboration with the Center for Climate Changes...

Instead of stimulating purchases of new vehicles and installing LPG fuel systems in the used vehicles, the state with opposite measures

There aren't any subsidies from the state budget for 2021 for the citizens who would like to buy electric or hybrid vehicles, the assets planed for subsidizing the installing of LPG fuel systems in old vehicles are projected to only 210.000 EUR for the next 12 months, the eco stickers for the vehicles weren't implemented this winter, and there...

This autumn the air in Skopje much more polluted compared to this spring, during the curfew

The air pollution in Skopje was far lower during spring this year, during the  lockdown, compared to this autumn. The movement restrictions that limited the traffic in Skopje and the industrial production have contributed to cleaner air during March and April compared to October and November 2020, show the data of the air quality from the monitoring stations in...

Skopje covered in thick fog and heavily polluted air yesterday evening (Photo gallery)

Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia yesterday evening, on Christmas Eve according to the Gregorian calendar, was engulfed in thick fog and heavily polluted air, with PM 10 particles concentration of 155 µg/m3. The city streets were mainly empty, with rare passers-by that seemed to be hastily walking to their homes. The atmosphere in downtown Skopje looked more like a...

Paper Mill company fined €20 000 for PM10 emissions, inspectors on offensive

The State Environmental Inspectorate of North Macedonia fined the company Paper Mill from Kochani €20 000 and tasked it to install a filter in a period of two months to prevent the air pollution with PM10 particles from its smokestacks. The municipality of Tetovo may also be fined, because despite the warnings that the reservoir for drinking water in...

Environmentalists object, the Government of North Macedonia says lowered taxes for registering vehicles will not influence air pollution

The session of the Government of North Macedonia held on 24th of November caused heated reactions from the environmentalists, with the confirmation of the text of the Draft Law for registering vehicles with foreign registration plates. It will alllow first time registration of those vehicles with Macedonian registration plates with up to 50% less than the value of all...