Air Pollution

(asked on 29th September 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 recent steps his Department has taken to align the UK's target for PM2.5 with the World Health Organisation's guideline amount.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 5th October 2020

In July 2019, the Government published a report assessing the progress that will be made towards World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines under a range of scenarios. The report concluded that while significant progress would be made by achieving existing 2030 emissions ceilings, additional action would be required in large urban areas such as London to achieve the current WHO guideline level. The analysis did not outline a pathway to achieve the WHO guideline level for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) across the country and did not take into account full economic viability and practical deliverability.

The Environment Bill, which will be introduced shortly, will establish a legally binding duty to set a target for PM2.5, demonstrating our commitment to action on the air pollutant that has the most significant impact on human health. We are committed to setting ambitious targets and following an evidence-based process, seeking advice from a range of experts, in addition to giving consideration to the WHO’s air quality guidelines. We are already working with independent experts and engaging with stakeholders on how we will approach setting these targets.

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