I come bearing a teeny tiny glimmer of goodness amid the flood of less-than-lovely news that we’re all constantly trying to wade through at the moment. A recent report has identified 19 cities across the globe that have managed to substantially reduce their air pollution over the past 15 years. And, believe it or not, London is one of them.
The report in question comes courtesy of Breathe Cities (a global initiative that supports cities to clean their air and enhance public health). They examined air quality trends over the past 15 years to determine which cities have seen the most significant decrease in two particularly harmful air pollutants: fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
Air pollution continues to be the world’s largest environmental risk, causing (among many other things) cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Large cities are the most exposed to poor air quality due to the concentration of vehicles and buildings. But large cities are also in a position to play a vital role in making it better.
Breathe Cities uncovered the 19 spots that have achieved ‘remarkable reductions’ in air pollution (seeing at least a 20% drop) since 2010. Beijing saw the largest drop in PM2.5 and Amsterdam saw the heftiest reduction in NO2. Both managing to respectively cut them down by almost a half. But London didn’t do too badly, either. London saw its PM2.5 levels drop by almost 30% and its NO2 plummet by over 30%.
London has taken deliberate action over the past 15 years to improve the city’s air quality. Initiatives including the expansions of the congestion charge zone and the Ultra Low Emission Zone have had a huge impact on the capital’s air pollution. And the increase in cycle lanes and electric cars have also contributed to this vast improvement.
This data shows that substantial reductions can be achieved in a relatively short space of time, as long as deliberate and intentional action is taken. Let’s just hope it’s onwards and upwards from here, hey?
You can take a look at the full report by Breathe Cities here.
