Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what monitoring is currently or planned to be carried out of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons emitted from road run-off; and what assessment has been made of this pollution, and particulate pollution, from electric vehicles.

National Highways, in collaboration with the Environment Agency, have recently undertaken further in-situ monitoring of a range of chemical determinands, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, as part of its recent Phase 2 microplastic field monitoring programme on the strategic road network. The project was completed earlier this year (2023) and the report and findings will be published on National Highways’ website shortly.

The Department commissioned a 4-year research project in February 2021 to investigate the measurement techniques, materials properties and control parameters of brake and tyre wear emissions from road vehicles. The project will also assess differences in particulate emission from tyre and brake wear in electric vehicles compared to petrol/diesel vehicles.