The socialist mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo draws a positive assessment of the development of cycle paths and the growth of cycling in the capital on the reduction in car traffic and pollution. His words are quite true but their presentation is misleading.
It’s the eternal debate about the place of cars and bicycles in the capital. The socialist mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo welcomed Friday September 29 on Xformerly Twitter, that “to protect our planet and our health, Paris is transforming with more and more cycle paths and Parisians who prefer cycling to driving”a barely veiled reference to the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron who declared “love the car” during an interview on TF1 and France 2 on Sunday September 24.
“And what successrejoiced the local elected official, in ten years, road traffic has fallen by 40%, as has air pollution!” Said like this, Anne Hidalgo’s words may seem true, at least on the reduction in road traffic, but those relating to pollution are in reality quite misleading. Explanations.
To protect our planet and our health, Paris is transforming with more and more cycle paths and Parisians who prefer cycling to “cars”.
And what a success: in 10 years, road traffic has fallen by 40%, like air pollution!https://t.co/S5O9fYgaq1
— Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) September 29, 2023
35% fewer cars in ten years in Paris
The mayor of Paris is slightly inflating the figures on the reduction of road traffic. According to data collected by the more than 700 sensors of the municipality’s roads department, placed on 210 km of roads, the volume of automobile traffic has actually decreased by 35% in ten years, from 935 vehicles per kilometer per hour in 2011 to 600 in 2021.
But the decline in road traffic had started well before, and therefore before the election of Anne Hidalgo as head of the capital in 2014. In 2002, the sensors counted an average of 1,187 cars per kilometer per hour. In around 20 years, the volume of car traffic has therefore fallen by half.
Reduction in fine particle and nitrogen dioxide pollution
Regarding air pollution in Paris, the mayor’s comments are too vague and do not allow us to know what they mean. Is she only talking about Paris or Île-de-France? Fine particles or nitrogen? Pollution in general or only near major roads?
Contacted by franceinfo, AirParif gives more precise figures, some of which correspond to a drop of 40% as the elected official said and others not. According to the organization approved by the Ministry of the Environment to monitor air quality in Île-de-France, around 40% of the most dangerous fine particles, PM2.5, have disappeared in ten years between 2012 and 2022. in the region if we look at what we call “background pollution”, that is to say that of the air that Ile-de-France residents breathe, even far from the main roads, but only around 30% of the nitrogen dioxide.
But if we focus on Paris, the figures are almost reversed. Only background nitrogen dioxide pollution has decreased by 40% in ten years. On the contrary, fine PM2.5 particles have only fallen by 25%. Near major roads, the reduction rates of these two types of pollution are higher with five more points of reduction. According to AirParif, you must always specify which pollution you are talking about, because you cannot make an average between the two types.
Multiple causes not yet measurable
Furthermore, it is not possible to say that the drop in pollution is due to the development of cycling, especially since, even if the number of cycle paths and lanes have increased regularly since the 2000s in Paris, the The number of bikes on these trails only really jumped at the start of the health crisis in 2020, after a very gradual increase in previous years. Bicycle use increased by 60% between 2019 and 2020, according to town hall reports. It then remained stable in 2021.
In reality, several factors explain the drop in pollution in the capital. “Obviously the rise of cycling contributes to this but it is not just the rise of cycling which explains the improvement in airunderlines Antoine Trouche, engineer in charge of press relations at AirParif. And for the moment, over the last ten years, we are not able to weigh the impact of one measure or the other.”
The organization is preparing to launch a study precisely on this question to succeed in measuring the impact of each factor independently on the reduction in pollution. The engineer cites several which are not necessarily specifically linked to the city of Paris or to the action of the municipality: the replacement of old vehicles by more recent vehicles that emit less particles, or even by electric vehicles, either in due to a personal desire of the motorist for renewal is driven by incentives from public authorities, the establishment of low emission zones (ZFE), the reduction in traffic speed, the increase in the use of certain public transport (25% more RER use in 20 years according to key transport figures published by the town hall).
But the reduction in pollution is also linked to the change in heating methods, thanks to the elimination of fuel oil, the improvement of heating methods and the thermal insulation of buildings in particular.
Increase in ozone pollution due to global warming
Even if pollution levels are falling in the capital, AirParif would like to remind you that this is not yet enough. In a report on mortality linked to air pollution published in February 2022, the approved body and the Regional Health Observatory (ORS) estimate that PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide pollution cause 7,700 premature deaths per year in France. It’s less than ten years ago, but, “even if we have a clear improvement, we still have 7,700 too many premature deaths”. Air pollution causes 1,780 premature deaths in Paris alone. In the capital, “this corresponds to a loss of life expectancy for each adult of ten months”.
To counterbalance the decrease in PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide pollution, Antoine Trouche also notes that, on the contrary, ozone levels have increased by around 30% in Paris in ten years. It is pollution that is created during the transformation of other pollutants during periods of high heat and strong sunshine. Pollution clearly linked to global warming. In conclusion, “we are reducing emissions of pollutants that are precursors of ozone, but it has happened less quickly than the effect of climate change on atmospheric pollution”he concludes.