UK air quality is improving but pollution targets are still being breached – new study

UK air quality is improving but pollution targets are still being breached – new study

Tony Skerl/ShutterstockAn estimated 4.2 million deaths can be attributed to poor air quality each year. Poor air quality is the largest fixable environmental public health risk in the world. Our new study presents analysis of the UK-wide trends for three major pollutants – nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), ozone (O₃) and tiny particulate matter known as PM₂.₅ – between 2015 and 2024 to calculate how often air quality targets were breached. Both nitrogen d…

UK air quality: where it comes from and where it’s going

Over the last ten years, levels of NO2 and PM2.5 in the UK have fallen but often still exceed World Health Organization targets. Ground level ozone on the other hand has increased by 17% in that time and now exceeds WHO targets twice as often as in 2015. Scientists from the University of Reading, who were behind the study’ focused on three key pollutants: nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), ozone (O₃) and PM2.5. While most air quality research in the UK has…