We’re working with Impact on Urban Health to explore how new developments in EU air quality policy since Brexit might be useful in encouraging the Government to strengthen air quality standards in the UK, improving public health.

Air pollution is the greatest environmental risk to health in urban areas. Robust air quality standards play a critical role in reducing this risk, making cities healthier places for everyone to live. Understanding the latest developments in air quality policy outside the UK will help to make sure that UK standards keep pace.

Our partnership with Impact on Urban Health will help us to explore the EU’s new air quality standards. These standards, which come into force in 2030, will be more closely aligned with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. They include new air quality targets and changes to air pollution modelling and monitoring. The EU will also require member states to compensate citizens whose health has been damaged by air pollution.

We will carry out research to identify how the new EU standards diverge from UK policy. We will then explore the implications for the UK’s air quality and health. The analysis will include policy developments related to Impact’s programme’s focus areas of freight, construction and wood burning. It will also highlight useful good practice drawn from EU member states.

Aim of the partnership

The evidence gathered during this partnership will be used to make a compelling case to the UK Government for strengthening air quality standards. The goal is for the UK to legislate in line with WHO air quality guidelines. We believe this move has the greatest potential to reduce air pollution and its harmful effects on health. Matching the 2030 EU standards would be a positive first step towards achieving this.

Whilst the priority is improving air quality, we also want to learn more about the specific issue of compensation for people whose health has been affected by air pollution. If the UK introduced a similar right to that set out in the EU standards, it would offer a direct route to justice for groups who are disproportionately exposed to air pollution. For example, people from minoritised communities and people living in low-income areas. We expect the outputs of this partnership to be of interest to community and campaign groups across the UK.

We will publish our findings in two reports:

• A policy report summarising key air quality legislation in the UK, the EU and beyond, and analysing the implications of diverging approaches to air pollution.
• A report highlighting examples of European good practice where national or local policy interventions have improved air quality.

We will also share insights via briefings for clean air campaigners so they can use the findings to support their own influencing efforts.

We hope this research will inform positive changes to UK air quality policies.

Photo by Matt Boitor on Unsplash