Local Government News
New World Health Organization Guidelines - time to act Councillor Adam Harrison, cabinet member for a sustainable Camden, reflects on what the new World Health Organisation (WHO) air quality guidelines mean for air pollution in the borough.
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he World Health Organization (WHO) recently published its updated Global Air Quality Guidelines to help inform action to protect human health. The WHO Guidelines are recommended limits for airborne pollutants which take account of the damage that poor air quality can do to health. The Guidelines were revised to reflect the ever-mounting evidence showing the serious impact upon our health resulting from exposure to air pollution, and the WHO has encouraged all countries to work
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towards the new recommended levels and for decision-makers to use the Guidelines as a tool to steer their legislation and policies. The previous WHO Guidelines from 2005 were already much stricter for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) than the UK legal limits for this type of pollution (10µg/m3 compared to 25µg/m3), and the new WHO Guidelines are even tighter, at 5µg/m3 as an annual mean limit. The new Guidelines also represent a huge reduction in annual mean NO2 compared to the UK legal limit; 10µg/ m3 compared to 40µg/m3 permitted
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by current legislation. The WHO estimates that 80% of global deaths relating to PM2.5 could be avoided if current air pollution levels were reduced to the new Guideline level. A 2020 analysis by CBI Economics estimated that achieving even the former WHO standards would avoid 17,000 premature deaths from respiratory diseases each year in the UK, while bringing an economic benefit of £1.6bn annually. With the preeminent global voice on air quality and health calling for the adoption of ambitious new
