Italian associations’ concern over emission controls

Emissions limitation regulations have not been adopted by all local authorities in Italy, according to Italian trade associations Unacea and Ascomac, meaning that obsolete machines can still be used.

Unacea, the Italian construction equipment association, and Ascomac, the national machinery trade federation, said that over the past 15 years, with the development of the EU rules, the construction equipment industry had produced machines that had cut more than 95% of particulate matter emitted.

They said this figure stood out in a position paper entitled Missione Meno Emissioni (Mission Fewer Emissions), which has been jointly produced by the two Italian trade associations.

According to the paper, investment and industry design efforts have not led to the expected benefits in terms of air and environment quality. They said that local authorities had not adopted limitation measures for the more obsolete machines. They added that at present, in Italy, there were towns where all machines could always operate, while other towns considered the machines’ pollutants, whatever engine stage was equipped.

Ruggero Riva, president of Ascomac, said, “We are dealing with a paradox. In this way, there are no incentives for those entrepreneurs who use machines of the most recent generations.”

Paolo Venturi, president of Unacea, said, “It is a nonsense that Italy has to be fined for exceeding the pollution limits, and at the same time we do not exploit the possibilities provided by the technological advancement to cut emissions.”

Ascomac and Unacea said they welcomed a memorandum of understanding between the Environment Ministry and local authorities on reducing emissions through measures to renew the current obsolete fleet.

To put these guidelines into practice, the associations are proposing the inclusion of construction equipment in municipal traffic limitation regulations, keeping in mind the engine’s emissions level, as well as it has been done with other kind of vehicles. They also want limitations considered on the use of obsolete machines on worksites in low emissions zones.

The two associations are also calling for “a specific and incisive system” of rewarding points in public tenders for public work of construction and maintenance for all companies that use latest generation machines. Finally, they would like to see the intensification of the mechanisms of market surveillance.