Today, the World Health Organisation have announced new
substantially stricter clean air standards. The WHO’s new Global
Air Quality Guidelines aim to save millions of lives from air
pollution and are calling for clean air to be a fundamental human
right.
Labour’s Clean Air Act would establish a legal right for citizens
to breathe clean air, abiding by WHO clean air guidelines and
keeping pace as scientific understanding develops further. The
new Act would place tough new duties on Ministers to ensure air
quality guidelines are met, bringing in real accountability for
the Government following multiple court defeats in recent years.
, Labour’s acting Shadow Environment Secretary,
commenting on the WHO announcement, said:
“Inaction and delay from the Conservatives has allowed
catastrophic levels of air pollution to build up across the
country, with toxic air estimated to cause around 40,000
premature deaths a year.
“In Government, Labour would introduce a new Clean Air Act to
protect our environment, help decarbonise the economy and ensure
we all have safe air to breathe.”
“This is a health emergency for children across the country.
Ministers must accept their defeat in the House of Lords vote on
the Environment Bill or we will see this country fall even
further behind the World Health Organisation clean air
standards.”
Ends
Notes to editors:
- Labour’s Clean Air Act would grant new powers to Local
Authorities, allowing them to take urgent action on air quality.
- Air pollution is a national health emergency resulting in an
estimated 40,000 early deaths each year and costing the UK £20
billion annually.
- The Government has repeatedly failed to act and delayed
action to combat air pollution, despite losing numerous court
cases. The Conservatives voted against incorporating WHO air
quality limits into law after leaving the long-promised
Environment Bill in Parliamentary limbo for months.
- On 6th September the Government were defeated on a
Labour amendment to the Environment Bill in the House of Lords
which will require targets to be set in line with WHO limits and
achieved by 2030. Ministers now have the opportunity to accept
that change or must vote to reverse it when the Bill returns to
the Commons later in the autumn.
- According to the WHO at least 37 UK towns and cities are in
breach of the previous 2005 WHO air quality standards for PM2.5,
whilst a minimum of 10 UK town and cities breach their standards
for PM10s.
- The new WHO guidelines published 22nd September
adjust almost all the air quality levels downwards, warning that
exceeding the new air quality guideline levels is associated with
significant risks to health. At the same time, however, adhering
to them could save millions of lives.
- The WHO guidelines have been drawn up based on evidence
obtained from six systematic reviews that considered more than
500 papers.
- A report by Imperial College London published 6th
September 2021https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/229233/long-term-pollution-linked-greater-risk-covid-19/
provides a comprehensive overview of the most credible evidence
of the links between air pollution and Covid-19. The report’s
findings include:
-
- exposure to air pollution before the pandemic increased
the risk of severe outcomes if a person became infected with
Covid-19
- exposure to air pollution may increase the likelihood of
contracting Covid-19 if you are exposed to the virus
- exposure to air pollution increases susceptibility to,
and worsens the outcome from, a range of infectious lung
diseases such as pneumonia and bronchitis.
