Many Italian cities are lagging behind in environmental performance, and have been slow to address issues affecting their liveability, a report by Italy's largest environment group Legambiente said on Monday, Paralel.Az reports.

The 31st edition of the "Urban Ecosystem" report, which the group issues annually in cooperation with Il Sole 24 Ore business daily, shows how 106 provincial capitals behaved in relation to key environmental indicators in 2023. It provides a ranking of Italy's cities according to 20 parameters, including air quality (various pollutants), green areas, public transport, soil consumption, waste management, and use of green energies.

"The analysis of urban areas as a whole paints a picture of the cities... with many difficulties and too few clear improvements," Legambiente said.

Overall, the report finds that Italy's small and medium cities are more sustainable than large cities.

Reggio Emilia in the Emilia Romagna region is ranked as the most sustainable city, followed by Trento (northeast Trentino region), Parma, and Forli, all of which are located in northern and central Italy, and have a population of under 200,000 inhabitants.

However, large cities such as Turin and Milan in the north, and Naples and Catania in southern Italy, were found to be less sustainable than in the previous year.

Air pollution remains "an urban emergency," according to the study, which is based on public statistics.

"Compared to the last five years, nitrogen dioxide is the only parameter that seems to be showing a downward trend," the study says.

Data shows that the Italian cities' general performance in terms of the public transport services on offer remains far behind the average of European cities. In addition, the report stressed that the number of cars registered in urban areas kept growing in 2023. "Italy's car fleet is still one of the largest in Europe," it said.

The report also shows that the use of solar energy in public buildings, and the percentage of vacant land left to nature both decreased on average.

However, one positive note was a "well-established increase in the average percentage of separate waste collection", and a slowdown in consumption of new land within cities, said the report.