Feature
Let’s clear the air about COP26: It failed to protect our lung health... Sarah Woolnough, CEO of Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation, shares her take-aways from COP26, why air pollution is a big issue in Glasgow and what we need to do to clean up our toxic air across the UK.
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t COP26, whilst world leaders were committed to discussing ways to protect our future from climate change, they failed to address the largest environmental threat to human health we face today. Welcome commitments to “phase-down” coal, cut methane and end deforestation by 2030 grabbed the headlines, but what was missing was any commitment to improve the quality of the air we all breathe. Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation, supported by Impact On Urban Health, spent two weeks at the conference launching a new campaign, Clear The Air. We spoke with hundreds of attendees and organisations about the link between air pollution and climate change, asking people to share their stories and take action to protect our health today, and ensure the next generation can breathe clean air tomorrow. Toxic Glasgow Ironically, as leaders skirted around the impact of air pollution on public health and its contribution to climate change, everyone attending COP26 was exposed
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to dangerous levels of fine particulate matter pollution (PM2.5). Glasgow, the home of COP26, is the fourth most polluted city in the UK outside of London, Manchester, and Birmingham. Furthermore, 81% of births across Scotland take place in localities with unsafe levels of PM2.5. This amounts to over 40,000 births per year. Last year, 93% of all air pollution monitoring sites across Scotland, and 90% in Glasgow, registered levels of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) above the new World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines of 10 μg/m3 This includes the places where those who are most vulnerable to the effects of air pollution, including pregnant women, children, the elderly, people with existing lung conditions and those on the lowest incomes, should feel safe. Over three quarters of care homes, seven in 10 schools and almost 80% of hospitals across Scotland are in areas surrounded by dangerously high air pollution. It is therefore of little surprise that urban Scotland, particularly the areas around Glasgow itself, have the highest death rates from lung disease in Britain; and around 2,000 premature deaths are related to air pollution each year.
