AQC updates its analysis of NOx and NO2 trends, including through the COVID pandemic

Analysis of trends in NOx and NO2 at 219 monitoring sites across the UK, over six years to December 2021, showing the effects of COVID lockdowns in the context of long-term patterns.

AQC helps to define Decision-Making Thresholds for air pollution impacts on designated nature conservation sites

AQC has helped to define Decision-Making Thresholds for air pollution impacts on designated nature conservation sites on behalf of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC).  AQC worked alongside DTA Ecology and Ecological Planning and Research (EPR) to define Decision-Making Thresholds and Site-Relevant Thresholds.  

AQC Staff Help Prepare Two New AQEG Reports

Defra’s Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG) published two new reports today (20/12/21):

Exhaust Emissions from Road Transport; and Ozone in the UK – Recent Trends and Future Projections.

AQC’s Ben Marner was part of the team which prepared both reports.

AQC Staff Continue to Support AQEG

Following a review of membership of the UK Government’s Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG), AQC’s Ben Marner has been reappointed as a member.  AQEG provides the most authoritative voice on the science of air quality in the UK, advising Central Government on key and emerging issues.   Several AQC staff have been involved with AQEG since its formation in 2002.  Ben looks forward to continuing to support the UK Government at what is an interesting and important time for shaping future UK air quality.

Air Pollution and Inequality in London

Air Quality Consultants has undertaken an analysis of the links between air pollution, deprivation and ethnicity in London, for the Greater London Authority. It confirms that areas where non-white people are more likely to live or which have more deprived communities are more likely to have worse air quality, although significant improvements have been made in recent years.

New WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a revised set of guidelines for PM_2.5, PM₁₀, ozone (O₃), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), sulphur dioxide (SO₂) and carbon monoxide (CO)

AQC Contributes to Seminal Research on Non-Exhaust Emissions from Road Traffic

Electric vehicles are often seen as a ‘silver bullet’ to the problem of air pollution.  While it is true that a move to electric and other alternatively fuelled vehicles will cause large and welcome improvements in roadside nitrogen dioxide, the evidence for reductions in particulate matter (PM) concentrations is less compelling. 

The Potential Wider Environmental Effects of Industrial Decarbonisation

In March 2021, BEIS published the UK Government’s Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy which sets out targets and actions to reduce industrial emissions to net zero by 2050. AQC has explored the challenges of industrial decarbonisation, the technologies coming forward, the potential for air quality and climate change trade-offs, and other cross media effects associated with the introduction of these technologies.

Are we there yet? 25 Years of Local Air Quality Management

The Environment Act was passed in 1995 and the first set of UK Air Quality Objectives adopted in 1997 so, using a three-year average, Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) is 25 years old this year. As Clean Air Day 2021 focusses on children’s health, it is worth considering what has improved over that period and what has not, and so what protection from air pollution a child born today can expect over the next 25 years.

Cities breaking the ground on climate change action

On Earth Day 2021, and in a week of a number of significant announcements for climate including the UK’s new climate target for 2035, agreement on the European Climate Law, publication of further details on the EU’s green taxonomy for sustainable finance and the launch of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, Logika Group’s climate specialist, Natalia Reyna, reflects on the critical role that cities play in tackling climate change.  

Blue Sky Recovery: How zero-emission vehicles and reduced car use will allow cities to keep lockdown low levels of air pollution

The air quality changes brought about by the unprecedented lockdown of European cities during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic can be replicated through changes to mobility policies, research released today by AQC has shown. AQC has published its analysis, commissioned by the Brussels based NGO Transport and Environment, of policy scenarios to show how the air quality benefits seen during the most stringent phase of Covid-19 lockdowns could be achieved through changes to mobility policies, in six European cities.

Logika Group is Sponsoring the Built Environment Networking Webinar

Logika Group is pleased to be sponsoring the Built Environment Networking webinar ‘Green Infrastructure: Make it the Heart of Smart and Future Cities and New Development’.