Diesel cars to be banned by 2024 to curb deadly air pollution as Rome wasn’t built in a day!

Rome, March 1: Rome, one of Europe's most traffic-clogged cities and home to thousands of ancient outdoor monuments threatened by pollution, plans to ban diesel cars from the centre by 2024. About two-thirds of the 1.8 million new cars sold in Italy last year were diesel, according to industry figures. 

Mayor, Virginia Raggi announced the decision on her Facebook page on Tuesday, saying: "If we want to intervene seriously, we have to have the courage to adopt strong measures. Now cars with diesel engines will be banned from heading into the centre,” the mayor said.

Her comments followed a court ruling in Germany that cities there can ban the most heavily polluting diesel cars from their streets.

Rome has no major industries, so nearly all of the air pollution in the Italian capital is caused by motor vehicles.

Rome has also tried to reduce pollution by allowing only cars whose number plates end in either odd or even numbers to circulate on alternate days. But regulations are widely flouted and lightly enforced by traffic police. To skirt the alternate day’s regulation, many families buy a used car with a different number plate.

Apart from health issues, pollution from combustion engines causes severe damage to Rome's many ancient outdoor monuments.

According to a study last year by a branch of the Culture Ministry, 3,600 stone monuments and 60 bronze sculptures risk serious deterioration because of air pollution.