Existing air pollution regulations will reduce thousands of premature adult deaths in the UK, a study has revealed.
Research by University College London found that air pollution policies could prevent 6,751 early deaths amongst adults in the UK by 2030 compared to if no regulations existed.
That estimate nearly doubles to 13,269 avoided deaths if all possible measures are employed to reduce air pollution and emissions immediately, such as installing more efficient home stoves and boilers and stricter emission standards for vehicles.
For the study, UCL academics looked at a range of pollutants and their effects on people and the environment. They then calculated their projected effects in the coming decade based on current levels of regulation.
The researchers found that the amount of fine particulate matter in the atmosphere, the air pollutant most harmful to human health, can be significantly reduced.
More than 600 premature deaths could be prevented in London if ministers implement the full range of possible environmental policies, the study found. The capital has by far the worst exposure to PM2.5, a harmful pollutant, than any other region in the country.
The study comes months after Mayor of London Sadiq Khan expanded the ultra low emission zone (ULEZ) to all 32 of the capital’s boroughs in a bid to reduce air pollution.
At present, 79 per cent of areas in the UK exceed the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) annual mean guideline for fine particulate matter levels.
The UCL study found that this could decline by 21 per cent by 2030 with existing regulations. However, it could drop to as low as 36 per cent if the Government implements further climate measures.
The researchers urged policymakers to consider tighter regulation of the agriculture sector, whose emissions are predicted to rise in the coming years.
Lead author Eloise Marais, Associate Professor in Physical Geography at UCL Geography, said: “Our study demonstrates that existing legislation and regulations already have a sizeable benefit on health, but more ambitious adoption of readily available measures, especially for livestock farming and fertiliser use, could benefit thousands more.
“Currently the UK government only provides a handbook of suggested farming practices to limit ammonia emissions. Many of these are the same measures we test in our study. We hope our results provide the incentives needed to regulate rather than suggest.”
Additional measures could include low emission manure spreading methods, air filters on animal housing, and more effective air filters in industrial and power plant stacks, the researchers said.
However, the study found that further climate policies would still not reduce the harmful effects of air pollution on the country’s ecosystems.
This is because emissions of ammonia, which is highly damaging for ecosystems, will not reduce sufficiently even with tighter regulations in place. Agriculture accounts for about 90 per cent of man-made ammonia emissions.
Researchers found that the intensification of food production would see ammonia emission levels increase by 2 per cent by 2030. Even with further regulations in place, emissions would only fall by 19 per cent – a fraction of the estimated 80 per cent required to protect sensitive habitats and ecosystems.
Dr Ed Rowe, study co-author at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, said: “Nearly all of this country’s sensitive ecosystems are already at risk from atmospheric nitrogen pollution, and this has led to local extinctions of many species. Our research highlights the ongoing threats facing the nation’s heaths, montane landscapes, bogs and Scots pine woodlands, even under the most optimistic projections.”
