In his final speech as UK environment secretary, Michael Gove promised to incorporate World Health Organization guidelines for air pollution into the environment bill. This would tighten laws for particle pollution that are currently far weaker than the WHO recommends.
But working to meet limits can focus efforts (pdf) where the law is being breached and favour the construction of new pollution sources, such as factories and developments with large car parks, in places that already meet the law.
Studies, including one on more than 61 million people in the US, show health effects wherever there is polluted air. It would be better to tackle the problem wherever people live.
Across Europe, each country has targets to reduce the average particle pollution across its territory, but this does not mean improvement for everyone.
For example, cleaning up London’s buses roughly halved nitrogen dioxide alongside many busy roads, including Oxford Street, but in some places, it got worse.
In the first decade of this century, the gap between air pollution in the richest and poorest parts of the UK widened.
Canada has a different approach (pdf) requiring continuous improvements, even in places that meet limits. Setting targets to reduce air pollution year on year, and tracking progress, would provide a clear link between controls and their health improvements.
