More consideration must be given to the links between climate change and air quality pollutants, according to a new report published by the Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG).
Air quality in the UK has improved considerably in recent years as emissions of pollutants have been cut thanks to legislation and technological advances.
However, the impacts of pollution controls on climate change and how climate change will affect air quality in the future is uncertain. That is why Ministers commissioned the AQEG to consider this issue.
The AQEG report found that:
- Air quality pollutants, such as particulate matter and ozone, influence climate change. Control of the gases that lead to the formation of particulate matter and ozone can therefore affect both air quality and climate change. Current international climate change policies do not recognise these impacts.
- Hot summers like the 2003 heatwave are likely to become the norm by 2040, leading to increased summer smogs unless emissions affecting ozone concentrations are substantially reduced. Episodes of winter smog, by contrast, are likely to be less prevalent.
- It is essential that the interlinkages between emissions of air quality and climate change pollutants are recognised in assessments of the impacts of policies and developments for industry, transport, housing etc.
- Most measures that lead to a reduction in demand or an improvement in the efficiency of an activity or product, benefit both air quality and climate change. Such measures should be actively promoted.
- Local, National and European policies must recognise the interactions between air quality and climate change pollutants in developing measures to reduce them.
Professor Mike Pilling, AQEG chairman, said:
"The report draws together the most up-to-date research on the linkages between climate change and air quality. It examines the scientific background to these interactions and identifies synergies, where measures to improve air quality can help to tackle climate change, and trade-offs where policy measures in the two areas act in opposition. I hope this report is a useful contribution to this important policy area."
Editors' Notes
The report can be found at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/airquality/panels/aqeg/index.htm
The Air Quality Expert Group is a non-departmental public body set up in 2001 to provide scientific advice on air quality, particularly the air pollutants contained in the Air Quality Strategy (AQS) for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and those covered by the EU Directive on ambient air quality assessment and management (the Air Quality Framework Directive).
AQEG's main functions are:
- To give advice to ministers on levels, sources and characteristics of air pollutants in the UK;
- To assess the extent of exceedences of Air Quality Strategy objectives and proposed objectives, EU limit values and proposed or possible objectives and limit values, where monitoring data is not available;
- To analyse trends in pollutant concentrations;
- To assess current and future ambient concentrations of air pollutants in the UK; and
- To suggest potential priority areas for future research aimed at providing a better understanding of the issues that need to be addressed in setting air quality objectives.
The Group will not give approval for products or equipment. Further information on AQEG can be found on the Group's website at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/airquality/aqeg/index.htm