Air quality in Germany has recently become an increasingly serious issue. Some German cities stand out when it comes to air cleanliness. Although no German city received a "good" rating in terms of air quality, none of them fall into the "poor" category.
However, certain major cities, such as Cologne, Münster, or Mannheim, were not included in this assessment, possibly due to the absence of monitoring stations or current data. This is noted by the European Environment Agency (EEA).
Cities with the best air quality in Germany
Among German cities, Göttingen stands out with the highest air quality.
In the European Environment Agency's ranking, the city in Lower Saxony occupies the 25th position, with air quality being assessed as "satisfactory".
- Second place goes to Freiburg im Breisgau, where fine particulate matter pollution is only 7.5 micrograms per cubic meter of air.
- Fillingen-Schwenningen also showed comparatively good results with fine particulate matter pollution at 8.1 micrograms per cubic meter of air.
- Hanover and Kaiserslautern follow closely, securing the third and fourth positions in the German ranking.
- It was also found that the city of Umeå in Sweden has the best air quality in Europe.
Berlin, the capital of Germany, exhibited the worst results in air quality comparison and ranked 213th in European comparisons. It is classified as "moderate".
Nuremberg, Passau, and Gelsenkirchen are also at the lower ranks (209, 204, and 197, respectively).
In Europe:
- The cities of Cremona in Italy (343rd place);
- Nowy Sącz in Poland (344th) occupy the bottom positions.
According to Professor Hartmut Herrmann from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, cities have a limited impact on air quality, influenced largely by geographical location and emissions in the vicinity, over which the city often has no direct control.
Herrmann notes that cities like Umeå, with the cleanest air in Europe, and Göttingen, considered the cleanest city in Germany, benefit from two main advantages:
- Firstly, they have low traffic, unaffected by busy highways and intense industrial emissions nearby.
- The second advantage is a natural barrier; surrounding mountains or hills can prevent the spread of pollutants.
Related topics:
Despite the air quality concerns in Germany, the city of Göttingen stands out with the highest air quality among German cities, ranking 25th in the European Environment Agency's ranking and being classified as "satisfactory." On the other hand, Berlin, the capital of Germany, exhibits the worst results in air quality comparisons and ranks 213th in European comparisons, classified as "moderate."
