Assessing Air Quality in Greece in Times of a Global Pandemic

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Published: Jun 30, 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/hapscpbs.27663
Keywords:
Air quality Greece COVID-19 Nitrogen Dioxide Particulate Matter
Michail Melidis
University of Exeter
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0042-4001
Stylianos Ioannis Tzagkarakis
University of Crete; Hellenic Association of Political Scientists
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9393-8991
Abstract

The transformation of the world in a matter of months evinced the magnitude of the pandemic worldwide with a rising death toll and rapid spreading of infections from a previously unknown virus that appeared in Wuhan (China) in December 2019. Aside from the severe health and economic effects of the coronavirus, the environment has seen a few considerable improvements. Amongst others, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions have dropped at a global level as countries struggled to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Although Greece has a long record of problems and challenges in its environmental policy, the pandemic seemed to have caused a significant decline in its air pollution levels. This is mostly manifested in the reduced average monthly concentrations of three air pollutants (NO2, PM2.5, and PM10) in 2020 compared to pre-pandemic levels. The aim of this paper is to assess Greece’s air quality by looking at three cities (Athens, Thessaloniki, and Patra) and comparing the average concentrations of NO2, PM2.5, and PM10 over the period 2019-2020.

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Author Biographies
Michail Melidis, University of Exeter
Dr. Michail Melidis is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Exeter (UK). His work and research interests are focused on the analysis and implementation of environmental policies in EU, Greece, and the UK.
Stylianos Ioannis Tzagkarakis, University of Crete; Hellenic Association of Political Scientists
Dr. Stylianos Ioannis Tzagkarakis is Teaching Fellow on Comparative Public Policy and Postdoctoral Researcher (with scholarship from the State Scholarships Foundation-IKY) at the Department of Political Science of the University of Crete, Greece. He is Field Manager of the Centre for Political Research and Documentation (KEPET) of the University of Crete, General Secretary of the Hellenic Association of Political Scientists (HAPSc) and Member of the Steering Committee of the ECPR Political Culture Research Network.
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