Local Government

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.

The 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 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 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

air pollution limits, and the world’s attention focused on the UK this November for COP26, we now have an incredible opportunity to show global leadership in committing to the health of current and future generations by writing the new WHO Guidelines into law in the UK, including as a minimum a commitment to achieving the former WHO Guideline of 10µg/ m3 by 2030.

Achieving the new WHO Guidelines will be enormously challenging – comparable to the challenge of meeting net-zero carbon – but at this critical stage there is neither the time nor the justification for a lack of ambition. With each day that passes the need for a decisive and collective international response becomes increasingly and perilously overdue.

Indeed, many of the actions that we must take collectively and individually to avert a climate crisis are the same steps that will help to drive down air pollution and the intolerable cost the air quality health crisis places on our wellbeing and the economy.

At the same time, the impact of climate change upon air quality will be significant. Longer pollen seasons, worsened ground-level ozone pollution, and particulate pollution incidents from wildfire smoke will pose a serious risk for respiratory health. Clearly, we must view the climate and air quality health crises in tandem and set our ambitions accordingly.

The Environment Bill

Our departure from the European Union was touted as an opportunity to set more ambitious environmental standards for the UK. Although it was possible to do this before Brexit, it would still be of benefit to everyone if the Government pledged to go further than the historical EU-derived air pollution limits by adopting the new WHO Guidelines.

The Environment Bill is the tool for doing this. The Bill, which promises to ‘deliver cleaner air for all by requiring the government to set targets on air quality’ will introduce new environmental targets, as well redefining the framework for local authority action to improve air quality by requiring greater collaboration with other public authorities.

However, years after its introduction and despite good progress in the House of Lords, which saw peers voting to include a WHO amendment, the Bill appears to have hit yet another delay just before its scheduled return to the House of Commons.

When the Bill does return to the Commons, we will need MPs to hear a loud and unified call for them to vote in favour of the WHO amendment. This is just the starting point, but it is a crucial first step. Further work is needed to ensure that the additional responsibility placed upon local authorities to clean up our air is matched with commensurate funding and the powers to tackle pollution sources which are not currently within our control or are regulated with

outdated or ineffective legislation.

To this end I implore fellow politicians from across the political spectrum, along with businesses, other organisations and the wider public, to call upon the Government and MPs to support the inclusion of the WHO Guidelines as legally-binding air quality limits for the UK.

This must not become a politicised matter: air pollution does not respect constituency boundaries and we can all suffer its effects upon our health regardless of the way we vote.

Local action

Meanwhile, we continue to do all we can with the resources available to us to reduce air pollution and pollution exposure in Camden: by working in partnership with businesses, communities and schools to support local action; by providing clean power supplies for canal boaters, ice cream vendors and electric vehicles; by improving cycling, walking and sustainable travel infrastructure; by working with hospitals and NHS partners to increase public knowledge

about the health risks from pollution exposure both outdoors and inside buildings; and by raising awareness of the significant and avoidable impact of activities like wood-burning, bonfires and vehicle engine idling on urban air quality and health.