Murcia schools exceed WHO limits

Greenpeace and Ecologistas en Acción said on April 27 that every Murcia school area they tested exceeded the World Health Organization’s annual guideline for nitrogen dioxide. (greenpeace.org) (laopiniondemurcia.es) The groups staged a protest outside four schools in Murcia, wearing protective suits and filter masks and carrying banners that read “Por una educación sin contaminación” and “Transporte público = menos contaminación.” (greenpeace.org) Their complaint is about nitrogen dioxide, or NO2, a traffic-linked gas that irritates airways and is associated with worse respiratory health in children. Ecologistas en Acción said the World Health Organization recommends an annual limit of 10 micrograms per cubic meter. (ecologistasenaccion.org) (greenpeace.org) The Murcia measurements come from Ecologistas en Acción’s 2025-26 school-air report, made public on April 15, which covered 412 educational settings in 66 municipalities across 10 Spanish regions. The fieldwork ran from November 2025 to February 2026. (ecologistasenaccion.org 1) (ecologistasenaccion.org 2) In Murcia, the campaign measured 12 schools and institutes in the urban core, including IES Licenciado Francisco Cascales, IES Miguel de Cervantes and CEIP Nicolás de las Peñas. La Opinión de Murcia said the samplers were attached to lampposts near schools for three weeks in November. (laopiniondemurcia.es) Greenpeace said none of the Murcia sites would meet the tighter European Union annual NO2 limit of 20 micrograms per cubic meter due in 2030. It also said one-third were above Spain’s current legal limit of 40 micrograms per cubic meter. (greenpeace.org) The highest reading was at IES Francisco Cascales, with an average of 55.3 micrograms per cubic meter, according to Greenpeace. La Opinión de Murcia identified four sites above 40: Francisco Cascales, Miguel de Cervantes, Nuestra Señora del Carmen and Narciso Yepes. (greenpeace.org) (laopiniondemurcia.es) The national report said 96% of the school environments it studied were above the World Health Organization guideline. Murcia posted the worst overall results in the country, Greenpeace and La Opinión de Murcia said. (ecologistasenaccion.org) (greenpeace.org) (laopiniondemurcia.es) The groups tied the worst readings to heavier traffic and pointed to lower levels near calmer streets or places where car use has been reduced. Greenpeace cited CEIP Divino Maestro and CEIP Nicolás de las Peñas as examples of that pattern. (greenpeace.org) They asked Murcia City Council for safer school streets, traffic calming, more public transport and what they called an effective low-emission zone. La Opinión de Murcia reported earlier this month that the council said Murcia complies with legal limits and questioned the validity of the report’s spot measurements. (greenpeace.org) (laopiniondemurcia.es) The dispute now turns on whether Murcia treats school gates as traffic corridors or protected spaces. The campaigners’ numbers put that question at 12 schools and as high as 55.3 micrograms per cubic meter. (greenpeace.org) (laopiniondemurcia.es)