Uk Air Pollution: Who's To Blame?

Air pollution in the United Kingdom has long been a significant health issue, causing and exacerbating health problems such as asthma, lung disease, stroke, cancer, and heart disease. It is also responsible for environmental degradation, causing damage to buildings, forests, and crops. While air quality in England has improved since the 1970s, the UK continues to struggle with poor air quality, largely due to traffic emissions, domestic burning, and industrial sources. This has led to dangerous levels of particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide in the air, causing an estimated 40,000 premature deaths annually and costing the nation billions.

Road transport and traffic emissions

Particulate matter refers to everything in the air that isn't a gas, including human-made sources like smoke and dust from exhausts, brakes, and tyres. PM2.5, which is less than 2.5 micrometres across, is of particular concern as it can penetrate deep into the lungs and even enter the bloodstream, affecting the heart, brain, and other organs. Exposure to PM2.5 has been linked to adverse health effects, including asthma, heart disease, stroke, and reduced life expectancy.

To combat road transport emissions, London introduced the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in April 2019, which involves a charge on older, more polluting diesel and petrol cars and buses. This initiative has successfully reduced the number of highly polluting vehicles entering the zone and has contributed to improved air quality. Similar measures have been implemented in other UK cities, such as the Clean Air Zone in Birmingham, to reduce emissions and improve air quality for their residents.

In addition to local initiatives, the UK government has made legally binding commitments to reduce PM2.5 emissions by 2020 and 2030. While emissions have decreased significantly in recent decades, they have recently stabilised due in part to an increase in wood-burning stoves in homes. Domestic burning is now the UK's largest source of particulate matter air pollution.

It's important to note that air pollution knows no borders, and the UK's air quality is also influenced by pollutants from neighbouring countries and even dust from the Sahara desert. Despite improvements, air pollution remains a serious health and environmental issue, contributing to diseases, damaging buildings and crops, and impacting the economy through increased healthcare costs and lost working days.

Domestic and commercial heating systems

The use of fossil fuels and biomass in heating systems continues to pose air quality risks, despite the EU's push for renewable energy sources and improved energy efficiency. The UK's historical reliance on coal for heating, particularly during the Industrial Revolution, has been replaced by natural gas and oil as primary energy sources. However, the combustion of these fuels still contributes to air pollution, especially in densely populated cities.

To address this issue, the EU has adopted regulatory measures, strategic initiatives, and a strong emphasis on renewable energy alternatives. The Renewable Energy Directive, the Energy Efficiency Directive, and the Energy Performance in Buildings Directive aim to support clean heating solutions and phase out fossil fuel-based boilers gradually. Additionally, the UK Air Quality Standards Regulations 2010 set standards for pollutants that can harm human health and the environment, based on EU limit values.

The impact of domestic and commercial heating systems on air pollution is not limited to outdoor environments. Household air pollution, caused by the use of inefficient and polluting fuels and technologies for cooking, heating, and lighting, poses significant health risks. Women and children, who typically spend more time near the domestic hearth and perform household chores, bear the brunt of the health consequences from exposure to harmful smoke and pollutants.

To mitigate the impact of domestic heating systems on air pollution, the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued guidelines for indoor air quality. These guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations on clean fuels and technologies, discouraging the use of kerosene and unprocessed coal, and emphasizing the importance of addressing all household energy uses, especially cooking, space heating, and lighting, to protect health and the environment.

Industrial Revolution and coal-burning

The United Kingdom's air pollution has long been a significant health issue, causing and exacerbating numerous diseases, including asthma, lung disease, stroke, cancer, heart disease, and even leading to early death. The dominant contributor to London's historic air pollution was coal burning, which was heavily used during the Industrial Revolution.

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the coal industry in Great Britain expanded rapidly, driven by economic growth, an expanding labour force, and improved distribution networks such as railways and waterways. The increasing demand and falling coal prices led to a rapid increase in national coal consumption, rising from 20 million tonnes in 1820 to 160 million tonnes in 1900, an eightfold increase. This made the UK the world's leading source of carbon-based air pollution by a wide margin until it was surpassed by the United States in 1888 and Germany in 1913.

Local campaigning societies, such as the Committee for the Consumption of Smoke in Leeds, began to spring up to complain about the health risks associated with coal-burning. In response to these concerns, the British government passed several acts to regulate air pollution and its harmful effects. The Alkali Act of 1863, for example, aimed to control the emission of irritant gaseous hydrochloric acid produced in the Leblanc process, which was often a byproduct of factories emitting sulphuric acid.

The Public Health Act of 1875 was another important piece of legislation that addressed the health and visual effects of air pollution. This act put pressure on businesses to shift towards cleaner industry practices. One notable change was the shift from coal towards gas for heating and cooking. The uptake of gas cookers rose sharply in Great Britain during the 1800s and 1900s. By 1911, 69% of London residents had a gas cooker, up from just 2% in 1892. This transition to gas resulted in a significant reduction in air pollution, as gas is a much cleaner fuel relative to coal.

Despite these efforts, air pollution remained a persistent problem, and in 1956, four years after the Great London Smog, Parliament passed the Clean Air Act. This act substantially improved urban air quality by outlawing coal burning and establishing smoke-free areas throughout the city. The act also restricted the burning of coal in domestic fires and industrial furnaces, and it offered grants to homeowners to switch to cleaner energy sources.

Wood burning

Domestic wood burning has become the single biggest source of small particle air pollution in the UK, producing three times more than road traffic, according to government data. A government-commissioned report found that just 8% of the population is responsible for this pollution by burning wood indoors, with almost half of those being affluent and choosing to burn wood for aesthetic reasons rather than heat.

Wood burners triple the level of harmful pollution particles inside homes. A report by Kantar for the government found that two-thirds of those burning wood indoors used a stove, while a third had open fires. Furthermore, 96% had alternative sources of heating such as gas or electricity. Experts have said that wood burners have become "middle-class status symbols" and that the government should regulate their sale in urban areas.

The rise in emissions from wood burners has offset the reductions seen from the virtual end of coal burning in power stations and tighter emissions standards for vehicles and factories, according to government data. PM2.5 levels have remained the same for the last 10 years, with home wood burning causing 21% of PM2.5 emissions in the UK and rising by 124% between 2011 and 2021.

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) reported that 17% of all PM2.5 emissions originate from domestic wood burning. This is a larger proportion than that produced by traffic. Despite a long-standing regulatory regime tasked with their control, the problem is getting worse; between 2010 and 2020, these emissions increased by 35%.

Particulate matter (PM) in air pollution causes illness, injury, and premature death by infiltrating essential organs. PM2.5 is linked with 29,000 premature deaths each year.

Nitrogen dioxide and other harmful gases

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is a harmful air pollutant that is monitored and regulated in the UK by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). It is a dangerous gas that can cause serious health issues, including asthma, lung disease, stroke, cancer, and heart disease. Long-term exposure to NO2 has been linked to premature deaths in the UK, with up to 5,900 premature deaths in London associated with NO2 in a 2015 study by King's College London.

NO2 is released into the atmosphere through a variety of human activities, such as transport, industrial processes, and domestic heating. In urban areas, NO2 concentrations can be particularly high due to the high density of road traffic and the proximity to industrial sites. The UK has taken steps to reduce NO2 emissions, such as implementing low emission zones and charging older, more polluting vehicles for entering these zones. These measures have shown positive results, with a significant reduction in the number of polluting vehicles entering the zones and an overall decrease in NO2 levels.

Other harmful gases that contribute to air pollution in the UK include fine particulate matter (PM2.5), ammonia (NH3), sulphur dioxide (SO2), and non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs). These pollutants can have detrimental effects on human health, with PM2.5 being linked to cardiovascular issues and early deaths. The UK Air Quality Standards Regulations 2010 set standards for these pollutants, aiming to reduce their impact on human health and the environment.

The NHS, while working to improve air quality, has also been identified as a major contributor to air pollution, with associated costs of £345 million. Hospitals in London have implemented measures to reduce their impact on air pollution, and the UK Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that the government must take immediate action to cut air pollution levels. The issue of air pollution in the UK is a complex one, with historical contributions from the Industrial Revolution and ongoing challenges from various sources.

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