Toward Privacy-Aware Environmental Monitoring of $$\textrm{CO}_2$$ and Air Pollutants in Southern Italy

Abstract

The increasing levels of CO2 and air pollutants represent a major challenge to environmental sustainability and public health, particularly in regions characterized by complex geographic and socio-economic dynamics. This work proposes a study focused on the Southern Italy regions, where environmental vulnerabilities are displayed, along with a limited availability of high-granularity data. The main aim of this work is to build and provide a comprehensive and detailed dataset tailored to the region’s unique needs, by leveraging datasets from EDGAR for greenhouse gases and air pollutants, integrated with demographic and territorial morphology data from ISTAT. The creation of composite indicators to monitor trends in emissions and pollution on a fine spatial scale is supported by the data set. These indicators enable initial insight into spatial disparities in pollutant concentrations, offering valuable data to inform targeted policy interventions. The work provided a foundation for next analytical studies, integrating different datasets and highlighting the potential for complex spatiotemporal analysis. The study provides a robust dataset and preliminary insights, enhancing the understanding of environmental dynamics in Southern Italy. Subsequent efforts will focus on extending this methodology to more extensive geographic contexts and incorporating real-time data for adaptive monitoring. The proposed framework also lays the groundwork for privacy-aware environmental monitoring solutions, enabling future integration with edge and IoT-based architectures while addressing privacy and data protection concerns