Air Pollution

(asked on 6th March 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the UK meets World Health Organisation 2030 targets for levels of fine particulate matter.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 13th March 2020

Our Clean Air Strategy, published in January 2019, set out the comprehensive action required across all parts of Government to improve air quality and reduce public exposure to particulate matter pollution, alongside other pollutants. Our analysis, published in July 2019, concluded that while significant progress would be made towards the WHO guideline level for PM2.5 through the actions outlined in the Clean Air Strategy, additional action would be required in large urban areas such as London.

The Environment Bill delivers key parts of the Clean Air Strategy, and establishes a duty to set a legally-binding target for PM2.5. We are committed to following an evidence-based process to set this target, seeking advice from a range of experts, in addition to giving consideration to the WHO’s air quality guidelines. We need to ensure that this target is based on realistic pathways, robust science and full economic analysis to ensure that it is both ambitious and achievable, focusing on how the greatest public health benefits can be achieved.

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