To questions such as what it is like for a citizen to live in a city with a burdened atmosphere, to be unable to find coolness, to have to be shielded from floods due to extreme weather phenomena, research on urban resilience and climate neutrality in Thessaloniki attempted to answer that was presented today Saturday December 7 at 19:00 in the Water Hall of the Thessaloniki City Hall.

The research was done with the support of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation/Greece Branch.

“It is a very interesting discussion because it touches on many issues concerning Thessaloniki. This research and the discussion concern the treatment of the effects of climate change on the daily life of the residents of a large city such as Thessaloniki by highlighting aspects of this general problem, either data concerning the waters, the marine environment, or the atmosphere, the lack of greenery, the transport”, Mr. Giannis Krestenitis, Emeritus Professor of Coastal Engineering and Oceanography of the Civil Engineering Department of the Polytechnic School of AUTH.

First priority is air quality

“Some of the issues in the debate are older than worsening impacts, they are not new. Climate change, for example, is an old issue… I personally think that one of the most important issues we are experiencing in our city is the issue of air quality, atmospheric air quality. It is also known that it is not what it should have been based on Greek and international, European standards, which is why our country has been taken to the European court and was punished”, emphasized the emeritus professor of Coastal Engineering and Oceanography of Department of Civil Engineering, Polytechnic School of AUTH.

“I think the most important thing in the whole story is not that the fines – which should also be paid from public money – but the fact that the situation is not changing and there do not seem to be any significant measures, significant efforts to change this thing , for this very reason our country has been taken to the European court and punished. And the misfortune for all of us is that this burden on the quality of the air is obviously carried by residents and not only, but it is not something tangible, i.e. the big difference between “yesterday” and “today” is not distinguishable and so I am afraid that we are resting because it is not something like the impact of an extreme weather phenomenon, for example due to a flood or a heavy heat”, explained Mr. Krestenite.

At the same time, dealing with poor air quality in our city is related according to Mr. Krestenitis and with other things, that is, with the fact that there is no green space as it should be in the city of Thessaloniki, with the fact that the traffic on the streets is carried out in a slow manner, thus prolonging the burden on the people who move around the city. “Unfortunately, it is an issue that we have known about for years, the state knows about it, the organs of the state, whether of the central administration or of the local government, know about it for some time and yet we do not have the response that I think we should have, to have the State to have towards the citizens”, added the emeritus professor of Coastal Engineering and Oceanography of the Civil Engineering Department of the Polytechnic School of AUTH.

Heat and water

“Phenomena like the prolonged heat we experienced this year have effects beyond the quality of life, and on other things, for example the environment, primary production. We know that two summers, the summer of 2024 to the summer of 2021 brought a lot of damage to productive sectors in the area, such as shellfish. They were destroyed, as the producers say, in a very large percentage, of the order of 80% or more, so there was a drop in production. What is also being perceived is the impact of reduced rainfall, so as a result we have phenomena of lack of water – water scarcity – which is sometimes aggravated by the bad management we do overall”, explained the emeritus professor of Coastal Engineering and Oceanography.

According to Mr. Krestenite in the country we have the problem of large leaks: “we waste water more than it should, and in uses that don’t need to be wasted. Let’s say we have a very high consumption of agricultural water in general and I mean throughout the country, while we could have projects in the agricultural sector that would lead to reducing the consumption of agricultural water, which is also the sector with the highest consumption compared to drinking water”, stressed Mr. Krestenite.

Extreme weather phenomena

“The other thing that we have experienced several times as residents in this region of our planet is extreme weather phenomena storms. The recent ones were such a case with strong phenomena, rains and very strong winds. We’ve had significant tree losses and when you’re in a city with so little green cover, even the slightest loss of trees is significant. Unfortunately, we do not even see actions to cover the specific loss from this extreme phenomenon of the three days of this storm, which had the code Bora, but also to increase the green spaces in the urban complex of Thessaloniki”, said the honorable professor of Coastal Engineering and Oceanography of AUTH. “In this research, which was also the reason for our discussion, this history of the TIF’s reconstruction and how small and big will be what is called a metropolitan park is highlighted, for example, a discussion about the claims to become much bigger than what is planned”, he explained.

What does “climate neutrality” mean for Thessaloniki?

The specific term according to the emeritus professor of Coastal Engineering and Oceanography is a term that we will come across often in the near future. “Yes, we must transform some of our activities in such a way that the impact on the environment is zero. This mainly started when we started talking about the common history of greenhouse gases, which are the gases that exacerbate this phenomenon of the climate crisis, so our activities, the means of energy production or energy consumption, our buildings and other our activities. In the city, we must gradually advance our actions in order to achieve this “climate neutrality”, emphasized Mr. Krestenitis who mentioned that this course has a cost.

“Obviously there is a cost because investments have to be made, things have to change. As an example I can give the following: From studies that have been carried out and are known both to the Greek State and to the local government, a factor that burdens the quality of the atmospheric air is central heating and mainly the heating that is carried out in buildings using either oil or for example pellets and other such fuels. These combustions are more burdensome than combustions with natural gas or, respectively, with electrical systems such as heat pumps,” explained the emeritus professor of Coastal Engineering and Oceanography.

“So for a household to change its heating which is currently with pellets, firewood, oil and go to another system, obviously it needs financial support, it needs money. Investments have to be made to change these systems and someone has to give this money. This is provided for by programs which are announced from time to time, but I believe that support for those households that still have, let me use a term, old-style heating systems, should be greater. A household keeps an older heating system because it has no way to change it…” concluded Mr. Krestenite.