The air quality in Madrid has improved, but it is still not at a healthy level. This is the warning issued by Ecologistas en Acción following the recent assessment that the Council of José Luis Martínez Almeida heard on the reduction of greenhouse gases in the capital. The Consistorio classified the years 2024 and 2025 as “the lowest periods of nitrogen dioxide in the historical series” and attributed this success to the application of the measures envisaged in the Madrid 360 Environmental Sustainability Strategy. Since 2010 and until 2021, the city has exceeded the nitrogen dioxide thresholds set at the annual limit value of the directive, the maximum of which is set at 40 micrograms per meter cube. Today, I do not rebase 31 micrograms, according to the town planning delegate, Borja Carabante. Environmentalists understand, however, that the Ayuntamiento is celebrating the implementation of a directive that is close to reaching the threshold set for 2030.
Juan Bárcena, responsible for the atmospheric contamination area of the Acción ecologists, criticizes the fact that the Ayuntamiento celebrates compliance with the limit values currently in force without remaining in the progress that has made it possible to achieve these standards and which recommends a greater reduction. While recognizing this compliance, note that there is a new directive which sets other values for 2030 (maximum 20 micrograms). He also mentions that the WHO gives a maximum threshold of 10 micrograms for adequate protection of human health. “What the Ayuntamiento says is that we respect the limit value of 40 micrograms – and that is true – but what we must respect for the year 2030 is the limit: 20 micrograms. And what the WHO recommends for adequate protection of human health is 10 micrograms.”
Since Ecologistas en Acción warns that at the moment the nitrogen dioxide values in Madrid are lower than usual, “I do not want to decide that these values are good”. Bárcena believes that the Ayuntamiento sends a message of respect for legality. “We are something better than before and that’s good,” he admits, but says more effort is needed to comply with the new directive.
The report, Bárcena criticizes, also omits levels of ozone, a contaminant that is “skyrocketing” in Madrid. “Before, ozone was a concern in the summer, with peaks between June and August, but now it is from April until October. Ozone is linked to climate change, it is a secondary contaminant that does not come out of tailpipes, but forms from chemical reactions between precursor contaminants in sunlight. “Since we say there is nitrogen dioxide in these. the lowest values in the historical series, which does not mean that they are healthy, for ozone it is the opposite,” emphasizes Bárcena.
The latest Winter Inventory of Gas Emissions presented by the City Hall shows that Madrid has reduced its total emissions by 53.8% since 2000. This success is attributed mainly to the reduction of contaminants from highway traffic. Across the country, the reduction in carbon dioxide was 29.31% during the same period. The Consistorio highlights that, in comparisons made since 2019, the drop is 27.9% in the capital, while in Spain it has been 12.6%. Since this year, the population of the capital has increased by 261,798 inhabitants, from 3,5266,126 to 3,527,924 empanadas on January 1, 2025.
Gas release
Javier Andaluz, climate and energy coordinator at Ecologistas en Acción, is skeptical about the reductions affecting the Ayuntamiento: “We believe that a real disappearance of greenhouse gas emissions in winter is not due, but rather to an obvious shift.” The expert says measures such as low emission zones in the city’s urban environment appear effective, but they ensure emissions are now concentrated on bypass roads such as the M30, M40 or M50. “The streets that traditionally crossed the center of Madrid now pass through these parallel roads.”
Environmentalists agree that there is no clear policy from the Community government to achieve a reduction in emissions beyond what is required at the normative level. Juan Bárcena affirms that, looking at historical series, the lowest winter values of greenhouse gases in recent years were recorded between 2020 and 2021, which are the years of the pandemic. “We are in lockdown and the levels of all contaminants are lower. We are not proposing that to reduce ozone we limit ourselves to people, but we are only deciding that this indicates that we have a margin and therefore we must take action.” Environmentalists propose, in addition to low-emission zones, encouraging electrified public transport and applying a general reduction in road traffic.
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