UK sets target to halve exposure to toxic air in 10 years

The government’s new Clean Air Strategy aims to tackle air pollution from a wide range of sources and includes an ambitious new target to reduce fine particulate matter in line with World Health Organization guidelines.1

Ministers say the targets go far beyond existing European Union requirements and make the UK the first major economy to adopt air quality goals that are based on the WHO recommendations. The plan has been broadly welcomed, although environmental campaigners say it is severely lacking in detail.

The strategy says that fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) will be reduced everywhere so that the number of people living in locations with concentrations above the WHO guideline of 10 μg/m³ will be halved by 2025, from 2016 numbers. The UK already meets the EU limit of 25 μg/m³ and is on track to meet the second stage limit of 20 μg/m³.

Without giving many details, the government said it will set a “new, ambitious, …