Executive Summary
Air pollution is a serious threat to both public health and the natural environment. It has been linked to heart disease, strokes, cancer, asthma and impacts on lung development in children. Tens of thousands of lives are being shortened in the UK by air pollution, according to the Chair of the Environment Agency.
This response from the University of Southampton explores the sources, as well as the environmental and health impacts of air pollution in England. This written evidence also evaluates the sufficiency of current air quality targets, legislation, monitoring and awareness in the UK.
Recommendations from the response include:
- Combine current and evolving mass-based targets with source-specific monitoring and controls, as well as the expansion of monitoring for emerging pollution measures of relevance to health.
- Integrate emissions reduction with habitat protection and targeted monitoring to prevent cascading ecological harms.
- UK should adopt WHO-aligned interim targets and consider alignment with EU on NO2.
- Pro-actively investigate pathways to introduce targets for emerging pollutants of concern such as ultrafine PM and ammonia.
- Work with local authorities to understand what works and what barriers exist for enforcing existing legislation.
- Revise medical curriculum to increase the understanding of medical professionals on how to talk to their patients about air quality.
Contributors:
