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Welcome to Air Quality News Magazine – Issue 28.
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Paul Day
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Air Quality News Magazine published by Spacehouse Ltd Pierce House, Pierce Street Macclesfield SK11 6EX
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As is traditional, our March issue is launched on the day of our Northern Air Quality Conference in Manchester. In the days following the event, our website will feature a full review of proceedings.
It would be nice to go into the conference brimming with optimism, but global events seem to be pressing down on us more heavily than they have for some time.
Donald Trump has spent four years preparing to dismantle everything his predecessor had achieved or set in motion, motivated by revenge as much as ideology. It’s certainly hard to square his contempt for offshore wind, for example, with his cossetting of Elon Musk, a man who, despite everything, has put more electric cars on the roads than anyone else.
The body Biden used to implement his policies – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – is now the one dismantling it, undoing a swathe of regulations that protected the population from air and water pollution, particularly in vulnerable communities.
But measures introduced to protect these vulnerable communities are now the first being torn up because ‘race’ is one of a number of factors used by Biden’s environment justice tool to identify vulnerability. This, in the words of the new EPA administrator, is ‘a clear example of the racial preferencing now prohibited by President Trump’s executive order.’
It would be easy to look at what’s happening in the US with a certain amount of horror, before getting on with our lives, thankful that whatever is happening ‘over there’ is not happening wherever our ‘here’ might be.
But what is happening here, and how much does Trump’s electoral mandate influence it? Well Reform have vowed to scrap the UK’s net zero targets and, in response, Kemi Badenoch has chimed in with her opinion that the targets might be impossible anyway.
Not long back in Government, the Labour Party have already indicated their approval for new runways at Gatwick and Heathrow along with the development of the Rosebank oil field in the North Sea.
Is this comparable with what’s happening in the US? Certainly the language is similar. In America the EPA (The EPA!) talk about 'Unleashing American Energy'. In the UK, Rachel Reeves wants growth at any cost. Going so far as to declare that, as growth is the ‘number one mission’ it takes priority over Net Zero.
Is political support for environmental policies – and the health issues that are concomitant with that – retreating? Is it being seen as a liability that politicians would prefer to side-step?
There are worrying signs that it is. Perhaps now more than ever, being heard isn’t just important - it’s essential.
Enjoy the magazine.
Paul Day | Editor
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Contents
PAGES 6-7
News
The 2024 Air Quality Report reveals global progress is being made while, in the UK, a new toolkit has been created to help communities and local authorities create parklets on their streets.
PAGES 8-9
Beyond the blaze
Exploring the long-term threat to firefighters’ health.
PAGES 16-17
Buzzkill
How deteriorating air quality is threatening the survival of bees.
PAGES 26-28
The Big Interview
We speak to Tom Grylls, Head of Super Pollutants at the Clean Air Fund.
PAGES 10-12
Big match atmosphere
How football clubs are tackling air quality concerns.
PAGES 18-21
International
The programme that is teaching Kenyan journalists about air pollution.
PAGES 30-31
Radon
A guide to the real silent killer threatening indoor air safety.
PAGES 14-15
Canaries and coal mines
Unveiling the hidden threats of air pollution to animal welfare.
PAGES 22-24
How best to green the streets
Strategies to maximise the benefits of urban green spaces.
PAGES 32-33
Legal
Exploring the changing legal landscape and fight for accountability on air quality.
Possible launch parklet toolkits for councils and communities
In their own words a parklet is 'a small but mighty public space' created in a space previously reserved for parking a car. Despite being - by definition - a small space there are many ways they can be used.
A parklet may be given over to seating, it could be used as a community garden, there are even examples of exercise bikes being put in the spaces and bands performing in them.
The first parklet appeared in San Francisco in 2005 when a group called Rebar fed a parking meter for the day, rolled out some turf and put a potted plant on top of it. Ten years later Hackney Council created the first one in the UK.
Possible's toolkit for communities runs through the entire process starting with choosing a location: away from junctions, in an area lit by street lighting and where there is already sufficient car parking spaces, and design: consult with other people in the area.
It moves on to cover financing and building the parklet. Some councils will finance and install the basic structure, others may provide a small grant – in Waltham Forest it's £250 – and leave the community group to design, install and insure the parklet themselves.
The creators of the parklet may also be responsible for taking out public liability insurance that covers them for third party claims, although again, some councils might take this on themselves.
Road safety audits will also need to be carried out and the council will need to legally change the space from being a parking bay, using a Traffic Management Order. This will involve a public consultation period.
Some councils have created their own parklets and many of the points in the communities toolkit also apply here: location, generating public support etc. It also moves on to developing a borough-wide kerbside strategy and the one developed by Lambeth Council – who aim to turn 25% of kerbside space into sustainable uses – is used as a case study.
IQAir World Air Quality Report: some progress being made
The 2024 IQAir World Air Quality Report contains some positive news tempered, as one might expect, by sobering reminders that global air quality still has a lot of scope for improvement.
17% of cities met the WHO annual PM2.5 guideline level last year, almost double the 9% from 2023.
The Report includes data from 40,000 air quality monitoring stations across 8,954 cities in 138 countries. Last year there was insufficient data for Chad to be included but they are back this year, reclaiming their title as the most polluted country on Earth, thanks mostly to severe dust storms which can affect the country for up to 100 days a year.
Chad had an annual average PM2.5 concentration of 91.8 μg/m³more than 18 times the WHO guideline. The next most polluted were Bangladesh, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo and India.
12 countries recorded PM2.5 concentrations below 5 μg/m³, the best performing being Bahamas, Bermuda and French Polynesia. Also below the guidelines were Estonia, Australia, New Zealand and Iceland.
The IQAir report uses PM2.5 data from ground-level air monitoring stations, sourced from both regulatory air quality monitors and low-cost sensors, operated by a wide range of organisations – including government agencies, academic institutions, non-profits, and individual citizens.
The most polluted metropolitan area was Byrnihat in India, with an average PM2.5 concentration of 128.2 μg/m³ while Mayaguez in Puerto Rico averaged just 1.1 μg/m³.
The lack of reliable data coming out of Africa has long been a problem and this year IQAir point out that across the continent, there is only one monitoring station for every 3.7 million people.
Elsewhere, it is noted that wildfires in the Amazon rainforest affected the air quality across large parts of South America last year, with PM2.5 levels in some Brazilian cities quadrupling in September.
Sustrans’ Big Walk and Wheel goes from strength to strength
The day before this magazine was published saw the start of the 16th Big Walk and Wheel, organised by Sustrans.
For two weeks, over 830,000 pupils from more than 2,500 schools will be walking, wheeling, scooting and cycling to school. On each day of the challenge schools will compete to see who can get the highest percentage of their pupils using active travel to get to school. Any schools from which more than 15% of pupils use active travel will be entered into a daily prize draw for appropriate prizes.
Prizes that schools could win include a bespoke set of playground markings from the WJ Group, bikes, scooters, safety equipment and bike storage solutions.
Sustrans recently published their first Children’s Walking and Cycling Index, sponsored by Halfords, which revealed that while active travel accounts for 43% (primary) and 42% (secondary) of trips to school, there is still a reliance on the car, especially for primary school pupils, 40% of who are driven.
Pupils made 2,389,015 active travel journeys over the course of last year's Big Walk and Wheel, equivalent to 14 trips to the moon. This represents a saving of 1,730,486 kg of CO2 emissions, based on approximations of assumed modes of travel.
Image credit: Stephen Latimer
New research leads to calls for EV battery health certificates
New research carried out by AXA UK has revealed that over a third of people who are not planning to buy an EV are put off by worries over battery life.
As a result of these finding, the company are calling on the government to facilitate the introduction of battery health certificates and, in the longer term, to oblige manufacturers to provide users with real-time information of the health of their car battery.
The two greatest deterrents to buying a second-hand EV among the sceptics were price (66%) and long-term battery health (52%)
Under current regulations EV batteries must come with an eight year or 100,000 mile warranty but as AXA point out, this provides the owner with no real insight into the battery's health over time.
As a first step, AXA UK are calling on the government to adopt the UN’s GTR 22 which outlines minimum performance requirements for the battery state of health.
From their perspective as insurers, AXA also point out that health certificates could have a positive impact on insurance premiums by allowing insurers to easily assess the value of a secondhand EV, in the same way that mileage is used as a yardstick for ICE vehicles.
OTHER NEWS
Renault step up automation of public transport in Europe
Renault Group have launched the first autonomous bus trials in both Spain and France, with the aim of introducing a permanent commercial service in France in July of this year.
The 'Robobuses' are Level 4 autonomous, meaning there will be no driver on board and the vehicle can handle all driving tasks within a predetermined area. The 6m long vehicles will operate on open roads in mixed traffic, carrying up to eight passengers.
UK’s largest floating solar project set for Barrow
Associated British Ports has revealed plans to install the UK's largest floating solar project on a 591,000m² Cavendish Dock at the Port of Barrow.
The solar panels will be installed on floating pontoons, anchored to the dock floor. The array is expected to cover around onethird of the dock's water surface and will be made up of around 47,000 solar panels. Current leisure activities within the dock will continue.
UK used-car market approaching 'tipping point' to EVs
Using the science behind ‘tipping points’, researchers have found that the UK is close to widespread adoption of used EVs.
Professor Tim Lenton, from the University of Exeter, said: 'Our findings provide a clear signal that the status quo – dominance of petrol and diesel cars – is becoming less stable. Now we know this tipping point may be happening, actions can be taken to accelerate it.’
For the full stories and more, visit: airqualitynews.com
Beyond the blaze: The long-term threat to firefighters
By Paul Day
If your job involves running into burning buildings as everyone else is running out, you know you’ve chosen one of the more dangerous professions. The flames, intense heat and collapsing buildings all represent an immediate danger but here Paul Day talks to someone concerned with the long-term health consequences that firefighters face.
When firefighters tackle a fire they are protected by extremely sophisticated equipment, but in recent years concern has grown over the long-term effects of their work, something that they are less well protected from.
In September 2021, growing evidence that firefighters were disproportionately suffering from cancers prompted the UK’s Fire Brigades Union (FBU) to launched their Decon campaign, to raise awareness of this pernicious threat.
Of particular concern to the FBU was the fact that firefighters in countries such as Canada and Australia were being better protected from exposure to the fire-generated toxins that can be inhaled, ingested or absorbed through the skin. Significantly, such toxins are present at fire scenes long after the fire is extinguished.
Much of the research into the link between firefighting and cancer has been undertaken at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) who are heavily involved in the Decon programme. Specifically, it has been Professor Anna Stec who has driven that research. In 2023 the FBU presented her with The Solidarity Medal, the highest award given by the Fire Brigades Union to ‘recognise or dispense solidarity, or specific acts of exceptional merit.’
Anna is Professor of Fire Toxicity at UCLan, and an internationally recognised expert in the field. She has been working in what she refers to as the ‘fire sciences’ for twenty years. Originally, her work involved the
detection and identification of chemicals released during fires until a mentor, an inhalation toxicologist, suggested that once she had identified the chemicals being released, she might look at what kind of effect they would have humans.
She explains: ‘Initially, this work was focused on acute toxicity – the immediate danger to human health,’ but she came to realise that very little was being done about chronic toxicity, the long-term dangers of regular exposure to toxins.
‘So I started looking at what is left after the fires and how they might affect cleanup operations, as well as the longer term health outcomes for people.’
Anna’s work has attracted a lot of media attention
Anna was often called as an expert in matters fire-related and it was her work as a scientific advisor for the Grenfell inquiry that initially brought her into contact with the FBU. They approached her with their concerns over cancer rates among firefighters and since then Anna and her team at UCLan’s Centre for Fire and Hazards Sciences have been studying the rates of cancer and other diseases among the FBU’s membership, as well ways to reduce exposure to contaminants in fire and rescue work.
The obvious challenge in protecting firefighters in the complexity of fire itself. ‘It provides a huge cocktail of different types of toxins, depending on what it's burning,’ Anna explains. ‘Typically you've got two factors affecting the types and concentrations of those chemicals: the size of the fire and what's burning. For example, a burning PVC window will release a completely different cocktail of chemicals to upholstery furniture, but there are chemicals that are released in every single fire and those chemicals will be carcinogenic. Benzene, for example, will be released in every fire and it’s got an association with leukaemia. And there will be polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, some of which are also classified as carcinogens.’
The first collaboration between UCLan and the FBU was in 2019 when Anna organised the UK’s first major study into fire contaminants and cancer among firefighters. The research involved an extensive questionnaire, which was completed by 10,000 firefighters and the examination of blood and urine samples from 1,000 firefighters.
‘We collected blood and urine to test for those rare cancers and diseases,’ Anna explains. ‘Then we tested for persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which are accumulative and persistent. So over their career firefighters will accumulate chemicals which stay for a very long time in their body.’
Testing was important because firefighters are not only vulnerable to cancers because of their work, they are also vulnerable to misdiagnosis of these cancers because of their age. ‘There is a prevalence of firefighters having rare cancers, and having them at a much younger age, perhaps 10 to15 years earlier than the general public. And those rare cancers will be not diagnosed until late because, typically, a GP would not be looking for them. Let's say that digestive cancer prevalence is 65 plus - a 45 year-old firefighter will not be tested for it.
‘So what we try to identify is not only a firefighter’s general wellbeing, but also if we can provide a health monitoring package for firefighters that should be implemented in the future.’
One of the more remarkable findings from Anna’s research has been just how pernicious these toxins can be. Apart from lingering for weeks at the site of the fire they are readily transported by the firefighters themselves. Not only were firederived chemicals found on firefighters’ personal equipment but also on fire engines and at the stations.
The fact that these chemicals can be absorbed through the skin, is genuinely alarming because a body that is sweating will absorb more readily. It has been suggested that a body temperature increase of 5 degrees will increase dermal intake by 400%.
Given the above, decontamination of equipment is critically important and responses to the questionnaire suggested to Anna personal and work decontamination needs to be taken more seriously.
‘We learned that if firefighters mix their contaminated clothing with clean clothing, it almost doubles the risk of cancer,’ she tells us. If you don’t do personal decontamination, like showering, you've got also increased risk of cancer and so on.’
“ What we try to identify is not only a firefighter’s general well-being, but also if we can provide a health monitoring package for firefighters that should be implemented in the future.”
Professor Anna Stec Professor of Fire Toxicity at UCLan
Training firefighters to decontaminate themselves properly is a primary focus for the Decon programme but Anna believes legislation is still needed in some areas. ‘There is no regulation telling firefighters to wear briefing apparatus for the post-fire,’ she says. ‘When you've got the main fire out, you've still got smouldering and there is nothing in place telling firefighters that they must still wear briefing apparatus. The US have it as a regulation, in the UK there is nothing. And quite a high proportion of firefighters told us that they do not wear it.
‘Secondly, some of the brigades still use structural personal protective equipment for wildland fires and it is really heavy and it doesn't allow you to ventilate your body properly, so you can see in photographs a lot of firefighters wearing T-shirts and shorts for tackling those fires, which means the dermal intake - skin absorption - is really high which leads to the skin cancers which are really well recognised amongst firefighters.’
Current work involves testing firefighters’ blood for perfluorinated chemicals (PFAS) which can be found in firefighting foams. PFAs are accumulative in the body and would increase the risk of firefighters developing cancer.
Future work with the FBU is already on Anna’s mind: ‘We are probably going to run another questionnaire to see how much has changed because the original questionnaire was in 2020, so it's nearly five years. So it's a pretty good time frame to evaluate how the work has improved awareness, how much the culture has changed, and how much it provided firemen protection from exposure.’
Big match atmosphere
By Paul Day
Football clubs – particularly the wealthiest, most glamourous among them - are bad for the planet. The focus has hitherto been on the carbon footprint of such clubs, but here Paul Day looks at how air quality is beginning to enter the conversation.
It would be naïve to expect the apex predators of the football world to bother themselves with matters environmental. Squads assembled with oil dollars, by nation states with questionable human rights records, are going to clamber onto their private plane at every opportunity.
A number of campaigns have aimed to highlight the conspicuous consumption of the UK’s Premier League teams. Last year Possible called on them on to stop taking flights to domestic games, an indulgence they saw as particularly egregious given that doing so actually saves them very little time.
Manchester City, they told us, took a private jet to ten of their 19 domestic Premier League games in the previous season, saving an average of just an hour per trip. Those ten flights generated 56 tonnes of CO2 emissions. If they had travelled by electric coach, it would have taken them 21 years to match that figure.
Earlier this year, the New Weather Institute published a report called Dirty Tackle, which revealed the scale at which professional football is damaging the environment, finding that the carbon footprint of the global football industry is the equivalent to burning 150 million barrels of oil.
But recently a new initiative came to our attention that was entirely focussed on local air quality, rather than the more generic matter of ‘emissions’.
In mid-December last year, representatives from four football clubs across Europe, along with a national football association, gathered for the inaugural meeting of the Clean Air Champions League, set to officially launch next year.
The league was initiated by the Dublin-based Bohemian Football Club, with support from the European Football for Development Network.
The other teams involved are Wolverhampton Wanderers, ADO Den Haag from the Netherlands and Real Betis from Spain, who are joined by the Bulgarian Football Union.
“ The problem we have here is that there's two national roads that intersect right beside our ground and, as a result, we often surpass EU thresholds around air quality.”
Seán McCabe Head of Climate Justice & Sustainability at Bohemian FC
The Clean Air Champions League will take three distinct approaches to promoting engagement with the air quality debate:
• High-quality air monitors will be installed at each participating club’s ground to collect reliable data.
• An online resource will add a competitive element with a live league table, ranking the clubs based on local air quality.
• Fan and community education initiatives will raise awareness and inspire action on air quality and climate health.
That Bohemians (aka Bohs) are behind the project is little surprise. In terms of social and environmental responsibility, they are paragons. Eschewing corporate sponsorship, in 2020 –working with Amnesty International - the club took the field with ‘Refugees Welcome’ across their shirts. Last year they played a match against the Palestinian national women's team, the first time they’d ever been invited to play a match in Europe.
Seán McCabe is the club’s Head of Climate Justice & Sustainability, who arrived at the club after working for the Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice, Mary being the former president of Ireland and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Seán gives us an idea of Bohs’ global status when we ask him how much international support the club gets. ‘We've some EU funded projects, of which the Clean Air Champions League is one,’ he tells us. ‘We’ve also worked with a range of other football clubs on a project called Football for Climate Justice, which is about engaging communities in the climate crisis.
We've also had the NFL come over to see us, the American football guys. I did a phone call, actually, last week with FIFA about their plans for the World Cup in 2026 in the US, Mexico and Canada.’
Asked about where the idea for the Clean Air Champions League came from, Seán has to think for a moment. ‘That's a really good question,’ he replies, on reflection. ‘You know, sometimes you get an idea stuck in your head… We have an issue outside our stadium. We're based in the north of Dublin, about a 10 minute walk from the city centre. The problem we have is that there's two national roads that intersect right beside our ground and as a result, we often surpass EU thresholds around air quality.
‘There was a good local community science project going on, with people trying to draw attention to the problem. I guess I thought that if we created a league table in which we wanted to come bottom, it'd be helpful. So that was the weird perversion of the idea, we created it to lose.’
Bohs secured funding for the project and put the idea out to a like-minded network of clubs. Two clubs from England were keen to get involved but in the interest of a better geographic spread, Wolves were invited on board ahead of Sheffield United.
‘What I'd love to do in the future,’ Seán tells us, ‘is open it up to other clubs who want to take part. Maybe they'd be able to find local grant money if we had a package where we could say: you get the learning materials, you get the air quality monitor, you get everything for X amount, and we'll put you on the league table. I think that'll be fun.’
Seán is not yet sure how the scheme will operate. Monitoring air quality is not something he has experience in but he is keen that AQN puts him touch with companies who might be able to help. ‘I would just go open tender on it,’ he says, ‘but Real Betis already have an air quality partner that they're talking to, so I'm just trying to figure out how we get uniformity across whatever is drawing the data from the air quality monitors up to a live league table. That’s key, having that consistency built in.’
We ask Seán if he was anticipating improving air quality around the ground and he replies, laughing, ‘To be honest, I haven't thought beyond us coming last and me going to Dublin City Council and giving out. I'm not sure. We will have to liaise with experts, talk about what's most compelling, from an educational, advocacy and environmental rights perspective, what we would like to be pursuing around air quality.
‘Drawing attention to the problems of air quality, raising public awareness, that was the motivation, and I haven't gone beyond that in terms of my planning yet. But the elements of the project are nice. The idea that we'll work with the fans to place the air quality monitors, so that will create a conversation.’
Climate clubs
Campaigners Climate Clubs have undertaken their own research on air quality around grounds used by Premier League and WSL clubs, producing Air Pollution League Tables based on PM2.5, PM10 and NO2 levels.
Of the 60 total measurements recorded across the 20 Premier League grounds in 2023 (PM2.5, PM10 and NO2) only one was within the guidelines set out by the World Health Organisation.
Newcastle United came top overall (that is, had the healthiest air) while Bournemouth and Brighton had significantly lower levels of NO2 than the other clubs. A trio of London clubs, Brentford, Tottenham and Chelsea occupied the relegation places.
The team behind the Climate club explained ‘We thought it was interesting to consider that air pollution could soon
become a factor in a players decision when signing for one club over another. The lure of a “glamorous London club”, for example, could become a thing of the past.’
David Wheeler, PFA Sustainability Champion and Wycombe Wanderers midfielder, said: ‘These findings show clearly why we must address air pollution. Not only does poor air quality affect a players’ ability to perform at their best in a match, it has the potential to cause some serious health issues too for players and fans.
‘But the good news is that football has incredible power to drive change. By raising awareness of the issue and taking action as clubs, as leagues and in our individual lives, we can make sure our air is cleaner, our bodies are healthier and our teams play better.’
When it came to the grounds at which
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Canaries and coal mines: Air pollution is a threat to animal welfare
By Martin Guttridge-Hewitt
In 2018, the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine published a study on the Association Between Indoor Air Pollution and Respiratory Disease in Companion Dogs and Cats. The hypothesis was logical.
The team proposed that where levels of fine particulate matter [PM2.5 ] were high inside a home, there would be an increased likelihood of the pets living there presenting with breathing problems. Data analysis supported theory, although the work’s key conclusions were that cats seemed more likely to suffer than dogs, and the subject ‘warrants further attention’.
Five years ago, the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, funded another observational project. This time on indoor air pollution and pets with ‘naturally acquired’ lung or bronchial disease. Like the preceding investigation, and another 2022 pilot study of shelter dogs and air pollution in Trinidad, evidence suggests a link between atmospheric toxicity and respiratory issues in animals.
More recently, in November last year newspapers on the subcontinent, including the Times of India, stoked concerns that Delhi’s notorious air pollution problem – which spikes
early winter due to the firework-heavy religious festival of Diwali – was detrimental to the quality of life and life expectancy of pets and strays alike. Animal welfare charity PETA warned of cardiovascular and respiratory issues, chronic and terminal diseases, eye infections and birth defects from prolonged exposure. Particularly among communities living on or near landfill.
Around the same time, Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College and the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change at the Environment at London School of Economics made headlines much closer to home. According to their work, Britain could avoid 80,000 visits to the vet each year if the UK met World Health Organisation [WHO] safe limits on PM2.5 This would save £15 million in up-front treatment costs.
‘For 1mg per cubic metre increase in PM2.5, you see roughly a 0.7 increase in veterinary admissions,’ Stephen Jarvis, Assistant
Professor in Environmental Economics at the London School of Economics, and one of the study’s lead authors, tells Air Quality News. ‘A bigger picture would be: if you go from a low pollution day, say below 5mgs per cubic metre, meeting that WHO standard, to a polluted day, maybe 40-50, you’d see a 30% increase in vet admissions. So, a substantial increase.’
Like his colleagues - Olivier Deschenes, Akshaya Jha, and Alan D. Radford - Jarvis never set out to look at air pollution’s impact on animals. Instead, he traces this work, loosely at least, back to a study of global policy fallout following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown in Japan. The world’s worst radioactive incident since Chernobyl 25 years earlier, among other things it led to Germany speeding up decommissioning old reactors as fears of industrial safety rocketed. The grid quickly became more reliant on fossil fuels again, leading to an increase in associated pollutants.
Given the vast amount of research on the connection between air quality and medical problems in humans, it was possible to present evidence of the economic and public health impact of that decision. ‘It was against the backdrop of that literature myself and the co-authors began to have discussions and were surprised to find that, relative to human health, there was very little looking at the effects [of air pollution] on non-human animals.’
But with hospitalisations a key metric for human health impacts, a model for measurement was obvious – vet admissions. Using the Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network (Savsnet) at the University of Liverpool, it was possible to analyse appointments at 500 providers, 5% of all UK vets, which treated 3.8million cats and dogs through 7million individual appointments between January 2017 and September 2022.
‘We tried to do a bit of looking not just at the impact on total number of visits, but changes in the kinds of visit we might expect,’ says Jarvis. ‘It’s not as detailed as NHS data, but we did have some breakdown of the main presenting complaint.’
Conditions that seemed to flare up or develop when PM2.5 increased included cardiovascular problems, respiratory illness, and neurological issues. Existing illnesses were generally exacerbated. Mirroring human impacts, many of these complaints develop over long timeframes, meaning determining direct catalysts is a major challenge.
“Hopefully what has come out of this study is the need to think about your own health as a pet owner, but also your pet’s health.”
Akshaya Jha
Carnegie Mellon University
‘Unfortunately we don’t have any data on the kind of severity of the condition,’ Jha adds. ‘Maybe in the extreme we do – there’s knowledge of whether they’ve come in for euthanasia, that’s coded in the data set within the number of visits per type. There’s also a category for trauma, post-op, respiratory, and other-unwell, other-healthy, and vaccination. These are pretty broad categories and it’s only the primary noted [in our study]. There might be a collection of reasons they came to the vet.’
‘I'm not a biologist or a doctor, but my rough understanding is that the biological mechanisms by which air pollution impacts animal health are similar to the biological mechanisms by which human health is affected by air pollution,’ he continues, before explaining that behavioural variations present another area that needs to be explored. ‘We are finding some differentials for dogs and cats that might be intuitive to some – based on what we think about how much dogs are outside relative to cats… That kind of pattern, where air pollution manifests, is important.’
A split between dogs and cats is consistent with prior studies of air pollution and animals, but categorically identifying causality or even correlation at this point remains impossible. Nevertheless, the Heinz College and Grantham Research Institute work does point to some predictable rules. For example, the topline results suggest that, as with humans, older animals are more vulnerable. ‘That’s the case directionally,’ says Jha.
‘Hopefully what has come out of this study is the need to think about your own health as a pet owner, but also your pet’s health,’ he continues. ‘When you're deciding when to take your pet for a walk, whether to keep them outside or bring them inside, taking air pollution into consideration.’
Simply put, when pollutants are concentrated enough to pose a threat to our pets and other animals, by extension they are also likely to be a risk to our own health. Which means any decision to adjust planned activities with or for your cat or dog because of air quality should also apply to you. And, like canaries in the coal mine, whose deaths alerted workers to the presence of deadly gases like carbon monoxide, animals may also be able to warn us of emerging environmental health risks before we register them.
That could involve presenting symptoms of toxic poisoning from cleaning products easily absorbed through daily grooming. Or responding to impurities in the air faster than we do because of hypersensitive senses of smell - for dogs, that’s up to 200 times more powerful than humans. All these areas demand more research. And even then, it may be the tip of a deeper iceberg. Pets are just one highly visible subsection of animals. So let’s say, what seems to be true for them will also be true for other non-humans. Now, what about high density livestock populations? Or the wild species we know are dying out, whose numbers have been plummeting in tandem with the spread of modern industry and its emissions?
Buzzkill: How air pollution is affecting bees
By Emily Whitehouse
Toxins in the atmosphere are threatening bees’ lives and preventing them from pollinating. Emily Whitehouse speaks to experts to ascertain the severity of the situation.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for several decades, you will be aware that the bee population is in worrying decline. The latest figures from Friends of the Earth reveal that 13 species of bees no longer exist and 35 are currently endangered. And if bees weren’t already struggling with habitat loss, climate change and pesticides, they are also falling victim to air pollution, preventing them from pollinating our plants and flowers, and posing a threat to our food supply and ecosystem.
‘To put it simply, bees are critical pollinators, essential for the reproduction of numerous flowering plants, including key agricultural crops such as apples and strawberries,’ Dr James Ryalls, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Reading explains. ‘Their pollination services support biodiversity by facilitating plant reproduction, which in turn sustains various species, including birds and mammals.
‘From an economic perspective, insect pollination supports around 8% of the total value of agricultural food production worldwide, and 70% of all crop species rely on it. If bees face continued risks, such as from air pollution, their decline could lead to reduced plant diversity and lower crop yields.’
However, to prevent the worst from happening, Dr Ryalls, who has been part of the University of Reading’s Department of Sustainable Land Management since 2018, helped conduct a research project that examined how air pollutants are affecting
pollinators – including bumblebees and honeybees. The study was the first real-world field project to look into such a topic.
‘My curiosity of insect-plant interactions, climate change and air pollination grew when I was doing my PhD in Australia, so when a postdoc opportunity came up in Reading focused on air pollution and plant-insect interactions I jumped at it,’ Dr Ryalls explained.
‘The study took place over two summers in 2018 and 2019, and the majority of the work involved researchers standing in a field and recording different groups of pollinators landing on flowers within different field pollination rings that we constructed at the university.
‘We also conducted a number of control experiments within the study, to ensure the effects we were seeing were robust. One of the three control experiments demonstrated that the mechanisms causing the negative effects of air pollutants on flower visits by pollinators were most likely associated with the degradation of odours that pollinators use to find flowers and forage.’
To give context, bees rely on the smell of flowers to be able to locate them so they can feed on their nectar and carry pollen (which sticks to their fur) to other flowers. However, the team discovered two particular air pollutants were hindering this progress: ozone and emissions produced from diesel exhausts. Ozone pollution forms from chemical reactions between pollutants from cars and factories.
‘The main results of the study revealed 62-70% fewer pollinator visits to the plants within diesel- and ozone-polluted air,’ Dr Ryalls explains. ‘When we tracked the number of flower visits by individual pollinators, the decrease was even more severe (83-90%). This led to a 14-31% reduction in pollination, based on plant yield metrics.’
While the findings from the research are worrying, Dr Ryall adds that they helped spark conservations about how we can work to address the issue. He says: ‘The research received worldwide media attention, [and] the paper also won the University’s 2023 Research Output prize, which was a nice nod from my colleagues. The recognition has even encouraged us to look into the matter further.
‘For example, I am currently working on meta-analysis to demonstrate how projected ozone concentrations over time will impact pollinator foraging behaviour. My team is also trying to identify mitigation strategies in the form of soil amendments that could limit the damaging effects of ozone on plantpollinator interactions, and we are seeking extra funding for this.’
On the subject of bringing the issue to people’s attention, Dave Goulson, Professor of Biology at the University of Sussex who specialises in bee ecology and has published more than 300 scientific articles on the conservation of bumblebees and other insects, has also expressed an interest in researching how pollution is affecting bees.
‘Three quarters of the crops we grow depend on bees and other insects to pollinate them, but they’re declining,’ Professor Goulson says. ‘My research has been on trying to understand why and has majorly centred around pesticides and habitat loss.
‘However, though I haven’t completed any research into air pollution myself, one thing I have noticed is that flowers which are planted outside of people’s homes and on roadsides aren’t feeding bees as well anymore because of pollutants from passing cars. This thought has led to me toying with the idea of applying for funding to research the toxic effects of particulates on bees generally. They breathe through little holes in their sides which lead into the trachea (branching tubes in bees that carry oxygen through their body), which could easily be clogged by particles.’
New research from the University of Leicester has revealed how toxic air affects gut health in bees. To conduct the study, which was led by Postdoctoral Research Associate Hannah Sampson and published earlier this month, the team examined adult worker bees and split them into two separate groups.
“We also conducted a number of control experiments within the study, to ensure the effects we were seeing were robust. One of the three control experiments demonstrated that the mechanisms causing the negative effects of air pollutants on flower visits by pollinators were most likely associated with the degradation of odours that pollinators use to find flowers and forage."
Dr James Ryalls Senior Research Fellow at the University of Reading
The researchers tested faeces samples from both groups of bees to check their gut health. Following this, one group of bees were exposed to black carbon particulate pollution before having their faeces examined again. The team found that this black carbon exposure was disrupting the established bee gut microbiome - the normal balance of bacteria and other microorganisms that naturally live in the gut, protecting against harmful bacteria.
While a lot more work needs to be done into protecting bees’ health and their ability to pollinate, you don’t have to be a qualified scientist to help. In addition to his research work, Professor Goulson founded the Bumblebee Conservation Trust in May 2006.
‘I created the charity because I was getting a bit frustrated with just doing research on insect declines, which is all very well, but publishing scientific papers in journals doesn’t directly help the bees very much, or at all, in fact,’ Professor Goulson remarks. ‘So, with a hope to do something useful, in 2006 I decided I was going to set-up the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.
‘I didn’t have much money and the charity took a few years to really get going, but with a few little grants and through employing a small amount of staff it finally took flight.’
Now, 19 years later, the charity has 12,000 members and around 60 staff members all over the UK. Professor Goulson says: ‘It is an organisation that has encouraged thousands of people to plant meadows full of flowers, created educational programmes for school kids and even inspired people to grow wildflowers in their gardens, all with an aim to helping save the bees.’
‘I was in charge of the charity for the first five years, although I was doing it in my spare time which became really stressful,’ Dr Goulson continues. ‘Eventually I had to take a step back, which was a hard decision to make, but I’m more than pleased with how well the charity is doing. I hope its legacy continues for as long as possible and people continue to dedicate their time to helping our environment.’
An African air pollution narrative
By Paul Day
A scheme in Africa is educating journalists on the causes and dangers of air pollution across the continent. We look at how one journalist used this course to increase her understanding of the issue and produced an excellent story concerning slaughterhouses in Kenya – see pages 20-21.
In May last year, the Kenya, Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) published an article by Soila Arasha titled, The Silent Threat: Air pollution from Kiamaiko slaughterhouses.
The story, which covered the astonishing dangers to health posed by slaughterhouses in Nairobi’s Kiamaiko district, had its origins two months earlier.
In February, as part of Clean Air Catalyst, a global consortium aiming to combat air pollution, the Earth Journalism Network (ENJ) conducted a two-day workshop designed to improve the understanding of air pollution issues among environmental journalists.
Soila applied and was accepted onto the course. As an environmental journalist she had previously covered some aspect of air pollution, particularly its health implications on vulnerable communities who rely on traditional biomass energy sources. Among her work was an article about a local initiative which converted waste into briquettes to reduce indoor-air pollution from cooking.
‘The workshop covered the main contributors of air pollution in our country,’ she told us. ‘The transport sector, poor waste management and industrial and household waste.
‘I also learnt that it is important for journalists to understand the “exposure pathway” linking sources to health effects when reporting. This was important as it helped me frame the story in a cause and effect manner, showing the clear links of the gaseous exchange and the impacts on health. It was also noted that there is a lot of misinformation about air pollution including... if it doesn't smell bad it is not dangerous.
‘There was also a session on data journalism and how data can be used to enhance reporting. Visualisation plays an important role in telling air pollution stories as it makes complex information accessible to the public.’
31 journalists attended the workshop, after which six were chosen to receive a story grant. They would work with an EJN mentor to produce an ‘in-depth, human-centered’ story around air pollution.
Speaking at the time, Stella Paul, EJN’s Environment and Health Project Officer said: ‘During our previous story grants, journalists have reported several new sources of air pollution in Nairobi that were not previously well documented in local media, such as the toxic fumes emitted from landfills and the burning of human hair waste.
‘Our partners at the Clean Air Catalyst consortium have acknowledged that these new sources reported by the grantees are indeed worth studying.
‘These new grantees have proposed stories that will explore both newer air pollution sources and initiatives to curb them. We expect the grantees to utilise their newfound skills and knowledge to report some unique, solution-oriented stories.’
As we now know, Soila was one of the successful ones. She told us how she decided to lift the lid on the slaughterhouse problem: ‘After learning during the workshop that air pollution is caused by pollutants in the form of gases, liquids, heat and even viruses, I was prompted to research further beyond the commonly discussed issues of dust and smoke.
‘I explored less obvious but equally harmful pollutants from poor waste management and thought of slaughterhouses and odours emitted from them. Odours from the slaughterhouses had not been properly considered as a source of air pollution but there are research articles linking such emissions with impacts on human health, including respiratory issues.’
The EJN mentor with whom Soila worked was Dr Jackie Lidubwi, an award-winning communications professional.
‘The mentorship from Dr Jackie Lidubwi for producing my story was incredibly valuable,’ Soila told us. ‘She provided strategic
“Odours from the slaughterhouses had not been properly considered as a source of air pollution but there are research articles linking such emissions with impacts on human health.”
Soila Arasha Freelance Journalist
guidance and critical insights and through her I was able to connect with key experts for interviews which significantly strengthened the depth of my reporting.
‘Her feedback also played a crucial role in identifying gaps in my story. With her guidance I was able to achieve a more comprehensive and balanced narrative.’
Soila visited Kiamaiko and talked to people who worked in the slaughterhouses. She admits that this was hard work, as many of the workers prioritized their wages over their health. Kenya’s National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) regularly closes slaughterhouses for a variety of infractions, such as releasing solid waste and effluent into the Nairobi River, so few people wanted to rock the boat further.
‘I will admit it was not an easy task!’ she confesses. ‘The workers were very cautious about my efforts to interview them or even take pictures. The fear comes after NEMA had initiated the closure of the slaughterhouses and there was also a fear of influential interests.’
Persevering, she spoke to Ali, who has worked in slaughterhouses for 15 years, along with another worker who talked to Soila under the promise of anonymity. Both struggle with their health but both are also resigned to their situation. Asked if she thinks her article has raised awareness of the problem locally, Soila is cautiously optimistic: ‘While systemic reforms may take time, based on the responses from the interviewees, I was able to raise awareness and expose the silent threat posed by the slaughterhouses. Some of the residents expressed a stronger resolve to demand better environmental oversight and accountability from local authorities.’
Soila is currently working on a story covering Kenya’s progression towards net zero emissions. Specifically the transitioning to electric vehicles. ‘As an environmental journalist, I am open to collaborations from both local and international publications to explore more in-depth stories on air pollution.’
Here we have printed an edited version of Soila’s original story and we’d like to thank the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation for allowing us to do so. The full article can be read here: https://tinyurl.com/2p8x665t
Herds of goats being guided off the vehicles at the goat market site in Kiamaiko. Photo by Arasha Soila
slaughterhouses
The Silent Threat: Air pollution from Kiamaiko slaughterhouses
By Soila Arasha for the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation
In the early morning hours, Nairobi’s Kiamaiko area springs to life with a vibrant of activity at the local slaughterhouses.
As I make my way through the busy streets, the distant sound of bleating goats grows louder. Trucks and lorries arrive in succession, each transporting a load of goats destined for the slaughter. The air carries more than the sounds of bustling markets and neighbourhood life. The air hangs heavy with the residue of organic decay producing a nauseating stench especially pronounced after the recent rains, which acted as a catalyst for the production of this pervasive odour. Solid waste from condemned meat, skins, and faecal matter mingles with liquid effluents – blood and bodily fluids – that flow untreated into the Nairobi River.
Ali Mohammed, a worker at one of Kiamaiko’s slaughterhouses for the past 15 years, has grown accustomed to these odours. Over the years he has suffered from persistent headaches and recurring colds that he once attributed to mere occupational hazards. It never occurred to him that these ailments could be linked to the very air he breathes day in and day out. “It’s just part of the job,” Ali says in a weary tone. “After all, everyone around me complains of the same symptoms. We all get these things from time to time. This is our source of income. You learn to live with it” he asserts.
Dr. Paul Njogu, Chair of the N-AIR Research and Data Committee, underscores the long-term respiratory health effects of prolonged exposure to these pollutants from the slaughterhouses on both workers and nearby residents. He stresses the importance of proper ventilation systems to ensure adequate air exchange and dilution of gases within the facility. Regular maintenance and cleaning of holding areas, waste disposal sites, and sewer systems are essential measures to minimize the buildup of organic matter and subsequent gas emissions.
Ali and his co-workers at the Kiamaiko slaughterhouse don’t wear masks as part of their protective gear. Instead, they rely on dustcoats and gumboots to avoid getting stained during the operations. For them, it’s more about practicality than safety. In this demanding environment, even those who handle the intestines and other visceral parts of the animals, working in close proximity to airborne particles, go without masks. They have adapted to the challenges. The collective assumption is that they’ve built up a tolerance over the years. They don’t believe their health could take a toll, even though the air they breathe is heavy with odours and contaminants.
Kiamaiko
sharing the same block with residential apartments. Photo by Arasha Soila
Dr. Njogu explains that as animal waste, including blood, urine, and fecal matter, is released during processing, it contains bacteria that continue to break down if left exposed. “This decomposition process releases microbial contaminants like bacteria, viruses, and fungi, which can become aerosolised during various operations. Improper disposal of slaughterhouse waste into sewer systems without adequate pretreatment exacerbates the issue” he further notes. Dr. Njogu emphasizes that the decomposition of organic matter in wastewater releases significant amounts of methane, contributing to air pollution.
Right behind the slaughterhouses, in a dimly lit storage space, I spoke with a worker, who sought to remain anonymous, who handles goat skins in these unsanitary conditions. The space is cramped, with piles of discarded skins stacked against the walls. As he sorts through stacks of goat skins in the poorly ventilated storage area, he is keenly aware of the musty odour that hangs in the air. “These skins can accumulate here for as long as thirty days depending on how fast they sell. Moisture from blood and other bodily fluids, combined with the warm, humid environment, creates the perfect breeding ground for mould and fungi. Inhaling this air makes every breath heavy” he explains.
“I have developed chest allergies, but work has to be done.” As the discarded skins sit in the storage areas, any residual organic matter begins to decompose. The presence of moisture from the salted skins can accelerate this process. The decomposition of organic materials releases gases such as methane and hydrogen sulfide into the air. These gases contribute to the foul odours and pollution within the storage spaces. Limited ventilation in these storage areas allows these gases to accumulate, creating a stagnant and polluted atmosphere. Despite the evident risks, Ali and his coworkers are convinced that their health can withstand the daily onslaught.
Globally, slaughterhouses are recognised as significant contributors to air pollution. The extent of their impact on air quality ranges from minor to major, depending on the implementation of control measures. Failure to address emissions can result in environmental nuisances and pose threats to public health.
Dr Njogu explains that as animals are processed within slaughterhouses, a complex interplay of gases emerges. Carbon dioxide (CO2), a natural byproduct of animal respiration and metabolism, is released as livestock are herded into slaughter lines.
The decomposition of animal waste, discarded tissues, and offal in holding areas generates methane, as does the anaerobic digestion of organic materials in wastewater treatment systems within slaughterhouses.
Ammonia originates from the breakdown of urea in animal urine and faeces, and bacterial decomposition of animal waste. Ammonia-based cleaning agents are also used for sanitation. Hydrogen sulphide is produced during the decomposition of sulphur-containing amino acids in organic matter. This gas can be released during organic breakdown in anaerobic conditions, contributing further to the air pollution burden.
The continuous release of these gases creates a potent mix that affects both indoor and outdoor air quality around slaughterhouse facilities. Ammonia and hydrogen sulfide irritate the respiratory system, causing symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, and throat irritation. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from organic waste decomposition exacerbate respiratory issues and may contribute to asthma and other respiratory conditions.
Methane displaces oxygen in the air, potentially causing asphyxiation in confined spaces which can lead to suffocation or unconsciousness due to lack of air. Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from animal waste adds to the air pollution burden, posing risks to respiratory health and overall well-being.
The detrimental health effects of slaughterhouse effluents are keenly felt by both workers within these facilities and residents living nearby. Despite its invisible nature, the impact of this pollution is evident, seeping into the lungs of workers with each breath drawn. These workers, often without adequate protective gear like masks, face increased risks of respiratory infections and other health issues due to prolonged exposure to slaughterhouse emissions.
Dr. Desire Ndayirukiye, a physician at Al-Basrah Hospital located near the slaughterhouses, has observed a significant number of workers presenting with chest problems and respiratory issues. Many of these complaints are linked to their exposure in the slaughterhouse environment. Dr. Ndayirukiye emphasises the importance of wearing masks to minimise direct inhalation of harmful substances. He also advocates for implementing proper sanitation practices and effective waste treatment procedures within the slaughterhouses to reduce the health impacts on both workers and residents.
Unsurprisingly, slaughterhouses were cautious about our efforts to interview or film within them. Rumours abound that influential interests behind the slaughterhouses have managed to delay the authorities. Much remains uncertain about Kiamaiko’s future.
Image credit: Soila Arasha
How best to green the streets
By Simon Guerrier
Green spaces have a positive impact on our health and well-being. As Professor Prashant Kumar of the Institute for Sustainability explains, maximising those benefits is a science…
As a nerdy child, I was constantly told to turn off the TV or computer and go outside, as the fresh air would be good for me. I’d trudge out into the garden or the park on some freezing cold, grey afternoon thinking, ‘Is it really?’
‘Oh yes,’ enthuses Professor Prashant Kumar, Co-Director of the Institute for Sustainability at the University of Surrey. ‘There’s lots of evidence that people who have easy access to green spaces are more likely to be happier and have better mental health and well-being than those who don’t.’
Why is that? ‘Nature has an impact on people. You see the greenery and the open space, rather the crowded urban environment. Your brain has less to process than being in front of a computer. It gives you a chance to recharge.’
We tend to think of such green space in terms of parks and gardens, woodlands and fields, but Professor Kumar is an expert on the wider ‘green infrastructure’ where we live. That includes everything from roadside verges and hedges, to urban trees and street planters. He’s particularly interested in studying the most effective ways to implement such ‘greening’ to improve air quality and health.
‘We’ve done some extensive studies on this,’ he tells me. ‘You put a hedge between a main road and a school or hospital and you can quickly see the reduction in black carbon –it can be by as much as between a third and a half. But it also depends on the type of hedge, how wide and high it grows, and what kind of state it’s in.’
Image credit: Paul Stead Photography
By closely studying the effects of these different factors, Professor Kumar and his team have developed the free online resource HedgeDATE – hedgedate.eps.surrey.ac.uk You simply fill in a few details about the street in question and the system calculates the reduction in pollutant concentrations that could be achieved by planting a hedge. It also recommends the best species of hedge and how best to manage it once planted.
Another project has been led by the Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), of which Professor Kumar is founding director. ‘We installed the first ever “living gate” at a school,’ he says, at Sandfield Primary School in Guildford, in an effort to combat high levels of pollution from busy nearby roads.
‘The gate into the school now has some 140 plants on it, with an automatic irrigation system. The beauty of it is that it’s all part of the existing structure. The school children also took ownership of the project. They helped place the plants in the gate and then you’d hear them say things like, “That’s my plant and I’m going to look after it.”’
The result was extraordinary. Together, the living gate and a ‘green screen’ of ivy reduced pollution levels inside by between 42% and 44% – the variation caused by the direction of wind –and reduced traffic-related noise by 5 decibels.
‘This kind of green screening creates a physical barrier to the emissions,’ explains Professor Kumar. ‘But there’s a lot more going on. We saw the effect of the wind. We found that particles of pollutant get deposited on green leaves and are then washed away when it rains. Then there is the effect of turbulence and other factors which provides time for the dilution of pollutants. By understanding these complex interactions, we can better target our work.’
Professor Kumar is keen to point out that green infrastructure of this sort ‘doesn’t eat the pollutants as such – it blocks them from getting to particular sites, or at least slows their progress. It’s important to understand that you don’t solve the problem of pollution by planting lots of trees and hedges. For that,
you need to tackle the source. But at the same time, there are multiple benefits from increasing green infrastructure. As well as air pollution, its good for the mitigation of flooding, overheating and noise. It has a role in carbon sequestration. There are the benefits for mental health and well-being.’
This range of impacts is important to avoid the unintended consequences of any intervention. ‘This is something that doesn’t get talked about enough,’ he continues, ‘but things done for the right reasons can have the wrong effects. Often that’s because people are focused on a single issue. My main interest is air pollution but I’ve learned I must consider everything else.’
He gives a particular example. ‘What’s called a “street canyon” is where you have high buildings on both sides of a relatively narrow road. This means limited airflow and high concentrations of pollution. So, you apply a green solution and put in a tree. That makes the street look nicer and improves the ecosystem in some ways, so you see some benefits. But when you study the data you find that the tree obstructs wind flow through the street canyon and so concentrations of air pollutants don’t reduce. They might even get worse.
‘Then the species of tree might produce a lot of pollen, a different kind of air pollutant with effects on health. Or there are species such as eucalyptus that produce biogenic volatile organic compounds – BVOCs. Those, in the presence of sunlight and the nitrous oxides from road traffic create another pollutant: ozone.’
Other factors to consider are the size – in height and width –that a chosen species of tree (or any other kind of greening) is likely to grow and whether it is easy to maintain, so as not to be a burden on the council. The choice also needs to be nontoxic and non-invasive, so that it doesn’t negatively impact local habitats. Is there one species that meets all these criteria?
‘Well, you don’t want the same, single species everywhere,’ says Professor Kumar. ‘You need to consider diversity.’
Image credit: Paul Stead Photography
“ You put a hedge between a main road and a school or hospital and you can quickly see the reduction in black carbon – it can be by as much as between a third and a half. But it also depends on the type of hedge, how wide and high it grows, and what kind of state it’s in.”
What’s more, all these factors need to be considered before an intervention. ‘It’s very difficult to change things once a tree is planted. There are strict regulations about cutting down trees and you often face local resistance.’
All these factors need to be considered as part of the planning process – a point Professor Kumar made to a House of Commons select committee on urban green spaces last December. At local government level, he is director and principal investigator of the UKRI-funded RECLAIM Network
Plus – reclaim-network.org – which provides support to those interested in installing green (and blue) infrastructure and boasts a wealth of research and other resource.
Another project he’s involved in, GP4Streets –www.gp4streets.org – is backed by a £2m grant from the Natural Environment Research Council. ‘There are lots of partners involved in this do-it-yourself initiative, a green prescription for streets,’ he explains. ‘The problem is that very built-up urban areas tend to have the most people living there, the highest energy consumption, the most exposure to pollution and the highest risk of overheating. But they also have the least free space available for greening interventions, so we need to find innovative ways of working.’
These innovations include, ‘developing tools to help councils in decision-making, so that they factor in the multiple benefits from greening. We can also help residents to be more strategic about what they do with what space they have, such as if they’ve got a garden, to maximise the impact.’ That suggests lots of small, very localised interventions that all add up to something bigger. ‘Yes, as well as carefully monitoring results so we can better understand the impact of interventions at this scale.’
‘It’s true of all this work,’ he says: ‘The more we understand, the more effective we can be.’
In an effort to combat pollution from nearby roads, the gate at Sandfield Primary School in Guildford has 140 plants on it
Professor Prashant Kumar Institute for Sustainability
Image credit: Paul Stead Photography
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With Tom Grylls
The Clean Air Fund partners with organisations that promote air quality data and action across the world, influencing and supporting policymakers. Tom Grylls leads on work relating to super pollutants, and is currently championing efforts to tackle two of the most deadly types of emission – both responsible for fuelling climate change while causing irreparable damage to our lungs.
How did you first become involved in air quality and air pollution?
I initially studied mechanical engineering at the University of Bristol. To be honest, I wasn't completely sure what I wanted to study. I was broadly interested in understanding how maths and physics can be applied to real world systems and problems, and that gave me quite a broad overview, from computer science to renewable energy to design.
Coming out of that, I still had a bit of an itch to kind of dig deeper into one of those subjects. I felt like I had a broad overview. And, having grown up in East London, the city had changed - the part of the city where I live had changed so much over that period – so I specifically wanted to apply some of what I'd learned through mechanical engineering into how humans and urban form interact.
Coming out of my PhD I wanted to do something that was a bit closer to policy change, and I felt that the research area I got myself into was really interesting, really important, but quite far removed, ultimately, from the kind of decision-making side. So that was when I joined Clean Air Fund, and it has given me this bridge between applying my technical knowledge to an organization that's developing strategies and trying to build the field and drive change using philanthropic funding.
My PhD, at Imperial College, focused on the urban form and in particular how blue and green infrastructure - parks, lakes and rivers - interact with your experience of the city. Then as soon as I understood that the model I was working on could capture the particles and gasses that humans are pumping out in a city and changing the air that we're breathing, I dived into that. My PhD ended up trying to represent as closely as possible to reality in a model how at the street and a neighbourhood level, things like traffic flow, trees and urban form change the air we're breathing. What is your work at the Clean Air Fund?
I'm overseeing a couple of programs we have on two pollutants that affect both climate change and human health, and that currently kind of fall between the gaps of a lot of the policy action we see that's often either on climate change or air pollution. We have a three year program on black carbon, and within that we are making grants and developing strategies from science, strategic communications, policy and advocacy and solutions. And then we're also in the midst of a project on tropospheric ozone.
We launched a report at COP in Baku, and are currently developing a blueprint for what we think is needed from philanthropy, but also the development-funder space. Mapping out where to go from where we're at now in terms of tackling these issues to where we need to be in the future. So thinking through what the research gaps are, what are the policy focuses, what can different governments do to take a leadership role in this?
What is tropospheric ozone and why should we worry about it?
It’s both a greenhouse gas and an air pollutant, so today it's directly contributing to about 0.2 degrees of global warming. But it's also responsible for half a million premature deaths per year because it hurts our lungs when we breathe it in, and as much 26% of some loss of crops, because it hurts the plants when they breathe it in.
What’s the focus of your research into this problem?
It seems somewhat intuitive sometimes to think that all of the different gasses and particles that humans are emitting into the atmosphere because of cars, because of power plants, because of a range of different activities, will affect both air pollution and climate change. But in practice, often we end up trying to deal with these two things quite separately, and the discourse is also separate. The reason we're working on trying to support better regulation and understanding of these pollutants by policymakers and others is because that brings about quite a unique opportunity to have some win-wins between tackling climate change and tackling air pollution together. That's a really important message to kind of focus on the fact that we can deal with two big environmental issues together.
“Increasing methane emissions is going to drive up tropospheric ozone levels, and then other emissions, such as nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, all of these are going to contribute to how high levels of tropospheric ozone are.”
Tom Grylls
The term ‘ozone’ connotes a something we know helps protect the planet. Why is tropospheric so different?
From a communications perspective, the major challenge is that it's called ozone, and most of our understanding is that ozone is a good thing. Ozone as a gas is really good at absorbing things like radiation and light. So when ozone is really high up in the atmosphere, it is stopping the UV rays from the sun. And this is good. It’s protecting life on Earth. But when ozone is lower down in the atmosphere, it's absorbing the heat that's coming back off the surface of the planet, and that's why it's a greenhouse gas. Is this low-lying ozone naturally occurring, or affected by human activity?
It's being exacerbated by increased emissions of precursors of tropospheric ozone. So another unique challenge, or reason that this is complicated but really interesting, is, unlike most other pollutants, tropospheric ozone isn't emitted directly.
Increasing methane emissions is going to drive up tropospheric ozone levels, and then other emissions, such as nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, all of these are going to contribute to how high levels of tropospheric ozone are. And this means that if you look at the world map, you can see where tropospheric ozone is really high and where it's lower, and this depends on the interaction of these different pollutants, as well as local conditions like the level of sunlight and how hot it is.
I think it's such a nice analogy the fact that the ozone layer is an example of international research success tackling an environmental problem. The Montreal Protocol [which banned ozone depleting substances such as CFCs] is a great example of how countries can collaborate and agree on a problem and then tackle its sources and improve the problem.
In Europe and the UK, we already have a similar protocol called the Gothenburg protocol, which is focused on getting at troposphere ozone. And this is being revised at the moment. The kind of renegotiation is planned to be complete by the end of 2026 so we have an opportunity right now for the UK, Europe, US, Canada, and other parties to the Gothenburg Protocol to step up and be a bit more ambitious on this.
What should our priorities be to reduce tropospheric ozone?
It’s important to tackle these precursor emissions, and that will help better inform some of the decisions we're making across lots of different sectors, from transport to energy. But another key aspect of this is not just to be thinking about this problem from a purely air pollution standpoint.
I think there's an important case for integrated action on climate change and air pollution. And one stat that I think really drives that home is when we think about the economic benefits, like the economic case to reduce emissions of anything really, there's a particular statistic that says the economic benefits from having cleaner air by implementing the Paris Agreement, which is a climate thing, would outweigh the costs of actually delivering on the Paris Agreement and doing all the things we need to do to limit us to 1.5 degrees global warming.
Do you think it is becoming harder to communicate and engage with the public on air quality and climate policy, given the complexity of these issues, the weaponisation of information and misinformation surrounding climate policy?
All policy interventions have trade-offs and how well they're designed in advance can make a massive difference in terms of understanding who's most affected, who benefits most.
So a broad brush, you know, thinking across some of the hot topics in the UK, around LTNs, low emission zones, things like that, I think a lot comes down to the policy design and the inevitable trade-offs with any intervention. Ultimately, I think action on air pollution is a huge public good that's often quite hard to see and feel.
Leaning more on my personal experience of growing up in London, in terms of how it feels to walk around the city, and how it smells walking around the city, there’s been huge progress made in recent decades. And you can really track that back to a lineage of policy implementation at the city scale, at the national scale, even at the regional scale, because air pollution is kind of going across borders as well.
The fact that these issues are so complex means if you come to the problem with an agenda, then you can pick out some of the holes. So those trade-offs do leave, I think, most areas of environmental policy open to scepticism and attacks. Often challenges can actually be good because it's an imperfect system how we're driving ahead [on things like net zero].
What’s stopping us treating air pollution and climate change as interconnected problems?
Reducing emissions will also improve air pollution and cut premature mortality, increasing the number of days people are working, and bringing healthcare costs down. That sum over a period of time is going to have larger economic benefits than how much it's going to cost to do all this stuff.
So I think that, in its own right, tells us why for governments, for UN agencies, civil society, there's actually a really important driver and benefit to link these two things and to think about climate and health together. It feels intuitive that all the gasses and particles we are emitting are going to interact and affect different things.
But the way the system is structured keeps them separate. So in governments, the climate teams and air pollution teams are often in different departments and may even have very limited coordination and interaction.
In terms of the metrics we use, of course particulate matter makes a huge amount of sense from a health perspective but means nothing in terms of climate. In the same way, CO2 is super important and means so much in terms of how we're tackling mixed greenhouse gasses and global warming. But that doesn't tell you about more localised climate effects that are often driven by some of these pollutants that do both.
Last year a number of prisoners were moved out of Dartmoor Prison Some prisoners after tests revealed high levels of radon gas
Radon: A risk that’s under the radar
By Rebecca Coates, UK Radon Association
Dozens of prisoners in Dartmoor had to be relocated last year, when radon levels in their cells were found to be dangerously high. Such stories pop up briefly, but radon remains the great undiscussed air pollutant.
‘Silent killer’ is an expression many have become used to when discussing indoor air safety. Unfortunately, it’s usually in sole reference to carbon monoxide. Whilst this may certainly be the case, considering carbon monoxide causes around 40 UK deaths per year compared to some 1100, the ‘silent killer’ label would perhaps be better attributed to Rn86 - radon gas.
Like carbon monoxide, radon is an odourless, colourless and tasteless gas that can lead to serious health problems if left unchecked. Unlike carbon monoxide, it’s often overlooked by the media and public, whose focus on indoor air quality (IAQ) typically centres on pollutants that can be actively reduced, such as vehicle emissions, wood burning, and industrial pollutants. But radon awareness is increasing.
What is radon and why is it dangerous?
As its name would suggest, radon is radioactive. It’s produced naturally by the decay of uranium in soil, rock and water, and is then dispersed naturally into the atmosphere. Whilst it poses no outdoor risk, it becomes a serious health hazard when levels build up indoors. Radon can cause lung cancer when inhaled over long periods of time and is one of the leading causes of the disease among non-smokers. According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), radon is responsible for around 1,100 lung cancer deaths in the country each year.
Why radon is such a risk indoors
Radon gas doesn’t accumulate indoors through open windows – it seeps upwards from soil and enters buildings through any surface in contact with the ground. It can pass through cracks and gaps in foundations but also be pulled through building materials due to pressure differences between the air inside, outside, and underneath the building. Cellars and basement areas are at particularly high risk due to their large surface area and low air pressure. Once inside, the radioactive particles, or daughters, attach themselves to dust and other airborne matter which is then inhaled. Unlike x-ray radiation, which passes through human tissue, radon decay emits alpha radiation, which is absorbed by it. The particles become attached to lung tissue, causing serious harm over long periods. Modern homes are designed or modified to be as energy-efficient as possible, but this actually makes it harder for radon gas to escape, thereby increasing the risk.
Geological influence
Understanding the geology behind radon is essential to understanding its potential effects. Radon is present everywhere, but certain parts of the UK are susceptible to higher concentrations due to the presence of radon-producing bedrock or particularly porous material. Whether you’re concerned or simply curious about radon geology in your area, you can use the free UK radon map to check the risk level in your postcode. It’s important to acknowledge that radon maps can only indicate potential risk – they should not be considered to give a definitive result, simply because they cannot measure levels inside buildings. To do this, a testing kit is required.
How to test for radon
The simplest and most accurate radon testing method is known as passive track etch. Detectors – small plastic pods containing sensitive film element – are placed in frequently-occupied rooms of a home or workplace and left in situ for between three months to a year. They are then returned for laboratory analysis and an average measurement is calculated. In the UK, radon is measured in becquerels per cubic metre of air (Bq/m3). The average concentration in UK homes is around 20 Bq/m3.
The golden rule when choosing a radon testing kit is to make sure it’s from a laboratory fully validated by the UKHSA. Many consumer-grade digital radon monitors are widely available from online stores. They might appear stylish and affordable, but their measurement accuracy is questionable and currently under heavy scrutiny from the agency, which won’t have validated or endorsed them.
If results are required at short notice, for example if conducting a property survey during purchase of a home, short-term testing kits are also available. However, their results are not considered as accurate as longer-term kits, because radon levels fluctuate over the course of a full year.
Landlords and business owners
Business owners and landlords have a legal obligation to ensure business premises and/or rental properties meet certain health and safety standards. It’s essential to take mitigation action if radon levels exceed the designated compliance threshold, which is 200 Bq/m3 in homes, and 300 Bq/m3 in workplaces.
Raising radon awareness
The UK Radon Association was formed in 2013 with a group of five members. It now comprises 27 national air quality consultants, laboratories and businesses with the aim of increasing legislation around radon safety and driving public awareness. Its Chair and director of Radonova UK, Dr Maria Dugdale, said, “It’s been a long time coming, but our increased efforts have significantly driven radon awareness and the importance of testing, particularly over the last few years. We’ve seen a substantial increase in test kit orders at Radonova, reflecting this level of concern. We're delighted radon is finally being recognised as a health and safety issue and becoming a key indoor air quality discussion point. It’s very encouraging for the future.”
Get involved: #radonaware
Radon is a chemical element – a radioactive noble gas that is colourless and odourless
Radon sump system
School office PIV system
Air quality under scrutiny
By Sylvie Gallage-Alwis and Anélia Naydenova
Sylvie Gallage-Alwis and Associate Anélia Naydenova, respectively Partner and Associate from Signature Litigation’s Paris office, examine the shifting legal framework as it relates to the public’s right to clean air.
Air pollution is an escalating global challenge that poses significant risks to public health and the environment with approximately seven million deaths per year, according to the WHO.
With 99% of the global population exposed to what is considered to be polluted air, regulatory bodies and courts are increasingly addressing this issue. Understanding the legal framework surrounding air quality is therefore crucial for addressing this pressing issue where NGOs are looking for accountability. This article explores the evolving European legal landscape surrounding air pollution, including regulatory developments and emerging litigation trends.
LEGAL FRAMEWORKS ADDRESSING AIR POLLUTION
WHO Guidelines
The WHO’s Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQG) are evidence-based recommendations that set limit values for key air pollutants, with the goal of protecting public health. First released in 1987, these guidelines have been updated periodically, with the most recent version issued in 2021.
Although the guidelines are not legally binding, they provide a framework that informs the legislative action and pollution control efforts of countries, encouraging governments and civil society to monitor and address harmful air pollution. According to the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI), meeting WHO guidelines could increase the global life expectancy by nearly two years, which is why European Union (EU) regulations aim to align with these standards.
EU Regulations
The EU has introduced several policies aimed at reducing air pollution over the past few decades. However, the EU continues to face challenges in achieving air quality standards, particularly with persistent exceedances of WHO guidelines for some pollutants. In response, the European Commission has proposed a revised Ambient Air Quality Directive, amending Directive 2004/107/EC on arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air and Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe.
Directive (EU) 2024/2881, which entered into force in December 2024, introduces stricter standards for pollutants, including a more than 50% reduction in the annual limit for fine particulate matter (PM2.5). It also updates air quality standards for twelve pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and sulfur dioxide. Furthermore, the Directive mandates that Member States allow individuals who believe they have been harmed by air pollution to seek compensation.
UK Legislation
The UK's air pollution legal framework stems largely from EU legislation, notably Directive 2008/50/EC, implemented through the Air Quality Standards Regulations 2010. Post-Brexit, these regulations remain as retained EU law, maintaining strict pollutant concentration limits. This framework is reinforced by the Environment Act 1995 (amended 2021), which empowers local authorities to meet air quality goals through targeted strategies.
"The evolving legal landscape around air pollution is poised to create significant changes, particularly with Directive (EU) 2024/2881, as it grants individuals the right to seek compensation for health damage. This development signals the growing importance of legal recourse for individuals affected by air pollution, and we can expect more legal actions targeting states and even private operators in the near future."
Sylvie Gallage-Alwis
Signature Litigation Paris
Anélia Naydenova
Signature Litigation Paris
Key industrial regulations include the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016, requiring permits for sectors like power generation and chemical industries, and the Clean Air Act 1993, which controls smoke emissions and fuel composition.
JUDICIAL ACTIONS AND COURT RULINGS
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)
The 2014 ClientEarth decision by the CJEU marked a watershed moment in air pollution litigation. Challenging the UK's failure to meet nitrogen dioxide limits, the Court established that Directive 2008/50/EC imposes an obligation of result, not just an obligation of means. Hence, simply preparing an air quality plan is not enough for a Member State to be compliant with the required pollutant limits. This decision empowered national courts to enforce compliance through injunctive relief, setting a powerful precedent for state accountability.
The UK's struggles continued, with the CJEU ruling in March 2021 that it had "systematically and persistently" exceeded NO2 limits since 2010. Despite Brexit, these proceedings remain binding under the withdrawal agreement. Similar rulings have targeted other EU members, with France facing scrutiny over NO2 and PM10 levels in several cities, while Italy, Bulgaria, and Poland have been found in violation of PM10 standards. These cases underscore the growing judicial pressure on states to meet their air quality obligations.
National Courts
National courts play a critical role in ensuring that governments comply with air pollution regulations. In the UK, ClientEarth has been instrumental in challenging the government's air quality plans. For instance, in 2018, following a judicial review, the High Court ruled that the government's plan to address illegal air pollution levels was inadequate and did not contain measures sufficient to ensure substantive compliance with the Ambient Air Quality Directive or the Air Quality Standards Regulations, ordering a revision of the air quality plan. Courts are also increasingly acknowledging the health impact of air pollution on individuals. In 2020, Southwark Coroner's Court concluded that air pollution contributed to the death of a young girl who lived near a heavily polluted road in London. This precedent-setting decision has sparked a wave of individual claims, exemplified by ClientEarth's recent Polish case where asthma sufferers are pursuing financial compensation for health damages, as well as protection for their fundamental right to live in a healthy environment.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)
On 9 April 2024, the ECtHR delivered a historical decision recognising the obligation of states to implement regulatory and preventive measures against rising greenhouse gas concentrations and global temperature increases that could have irreversible negative effects on human rights.
Signature Litigation Paris
Signature Litigation Paris
While the Court dismissed the claim under Article 2 (right to life), it acknowledged that severe environmental harm could infringe Article 8 (right to private and family life), as it could affect an individual’s well-being and disrupt their enjoyment of home and private life.
More recently, on 30 January 2025, the Court ruled that a state's failure to protect citizens from the dangers of pollution, specifically from hazardous waste in "Terra dei Fuochi" in Italy, violated the right to life under Article 2 of the ECHR. This decision marks a significant legal precedent and could have broader implications for future cases involving air pollution and its human rights consequences.
Future Developments and Expectations
The evolving legal landscape around air pollution is poised to create significant changes, particularly with Directive (EU) 2024/2881, as it grants individuals the right to seek compensation for health damage. This development signals the growing importance of legal recourse for individuals affected by air pollution, and we can expect more legal actions targeting states and even private operators in the near future.
Legal actions under the ECHR, specifically Articles 2 and 8, are also likely to gain traction. With air pollution being a major public health concern, these mechanisms will empower citizens to hold governments accountable for failing to take timely and effective action.
Private operators, including manufacturers, will certainly face greater scrutiny and liability as many of the pollutants responsible for air quality violations come from human activities. The growing intersection of legal, regulatory and financial pressures will likely force companies to adopt more sustainable practices.
In closing, European air pollution law is experiencing a seismic shift fuelled by stricter regulations and groundbreaking court rulings. The 2024 EU Ambient Air Quality Directive heralds a new era, introducing tougher standards and individual compensation rights that empower citizens. It is imperative for companies to stay ahead of this evolving landscape, ensuring that their organisations navigate these changes effectively to mitigate risks and uphold environmental accountability.
