For the second consecutive year, Sofia Municipality reports successful compliance with European and national air quality standards for fine particulate matter (PM10). Data for 2024 show that the number of days with an excess of the average daily norm (50 µg/m³) is below the maximum allowable limit of 35 days for all measuring stations in the city.
The analysis of data from 2017 to 2024 shows a clear positive trend in reducing the number of exceedances in all city stations – AIS „Druzhba“, AIS „Pavlovo“, AIS „Nadezhda“, AIS „Hipodruma“ and AIS „Mladost“.
In addition to complying with the daily norms, in 2024 all automatic stations on the territory of Sofia Municipality are below the legally established average annual concentration of PM10 of 40 µg/m³. This sustainable trend is particularly significant against the background of data from 2017-2018, when four out of five stations recorded exceedances of the average annual norm.
„We continue to uncompromisingly implement all measures that help us improve air quality. Regardless of whether Bulgaria will continue to be subject to European control or not, after the good results, Sofia will continue to strive for even better air quality, because making life in the capital as healthy and pleasant as possible for everyone is our priority, and the rules simply have to be followed.“ This is how Mayor Vasil Terziev commented on the results.
2024 is a reference year in the context of the European Commission's decision of December 2020 against Bulgaria for non-compliance with ambient air quality standards, since it was this year that the main measures taken by the country to implement European legislation were expected to come into effect. The data for 2024 for Sofia, which show compliance with the permissible number of exceedances of the average daily norm for PM10 in the capital, as well as compliance with the average annual norm, are an important indicator of the progress achieved in the implementation of this decision and the municipality's efforts to improve air quality.
The systematic approach of the Sofia Municipality, which gives a positive effect, includes strict control and investments in environmental alternatives in 5 key areas:
- Limiting pollution from cars by introducing a low-emission zone in the city center, modernizing public transport and investing in public parking spaces to limit secondary dusting;
- Limiting pollution from domestic heating by introducing a low-emission zone and a program for free replacement of solid fuel stoves with electric appliances;
- Limiting pollution from construction with record-high control of construction companies;
- Limiting the unregulated burning of waste with record-high combustion control and eliminating illegal landfills;
- Expanding the green system - with the elimination of mud spots, record investments in the design of new green areas in the neighborhoods and attracting external financing for the projects.
The data analysis shows a sustainable trend for improving the quality of ambient air in Sofia according to the two main legally defined criteria - number of exceedances of the average daily norm and average annual concentration of PM10.