Madrid Prepares for Its Greenest Year Yet

The European city with the most ambitious plans to improve its air quality this year probably isn’t the first one that comes to mind. It isn’t one of the usual suspects like Amsterdam, Copenhagen, or Paris—it isn’t even north of the Alps. In fact, it’s Madrid, which is embarking on what, policy-wise, could be its greenest year yet.

While Spain’s national politics lurch through crisis, the country’s capital is actually getting down to business to improve its poor air quality, making the city altogether more healthy and livable. It’s doing so by introducing a host of air-cleaning measures under a 30-point plan entitled Plan A—“because there is no plan B,” Mayor Manuela Carmena says.