Air Pollution Targets: Should we choose comfort or clean air?

Did you notice that just one week into 2016 London managed to breach its annual NOx pollution limits set by the EU?  Clean air campaigners said it was “breath-taking” that the breach had come so early in the year. And rightly so. The news came less than a month after the COP₂₁ climate summit in Paris, and only a short while after the revised Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were approved by the UN in September – specifically calling for improvement of urban air quality.

Are we returning to the days when London was filled with smog, albeit now a more dangerous, invisible mix of deadly combustion exhaust fumes that haunts Londoners?

The UK is a services-based economy, not an industrial one like India or China where 15 of the 20 most polluted places identified by the World Health Organization are based. Why are UK residents subjected to poor air quality?

Perhaps, the preference for comfort has a role to play. Residents prefer well-heated homes, private transport, and international travel, among other things. It’s one of the reasons why cities in economically developed countries are still struggling to meet the emission targets recently set by regulatory bodies and supranational authorities.

While the rising uptake of Ultra Low Emissions Vehicles (ULEVs) – aided in part by government subsidies and private sector initiatives – is certainly helping, and the global shift from coal to much cleaner natural gas will also have an impact. In order to hit our stringent and ambitious targets, much broader thinking and a more holistic approach is needed.

How do we fight the enemy we can’t even see? 

We’re becoming increasingly conscious of and concerned by environmental issues, and as a result there is a growing trend of individuals taking ownership of their own carbon footprint and environmental impact.

The general public has realized that we all have a role to play in tackling environmental challenges, and the responsibility for enacting change does not solely lie with policymakers and big business.

However, we don’t want to fundamentally change our lives in order to protect the environment; but we can choose to follow companies and buy products that benefit the environment. We can also fight pollution caused by human innovation, with scientific and technology-based environmental solutions.

This means that industry has a major opportunity to help these green thinking individuals reduce their impact through the products and services they offer – in doing so with these early adopters, they can influence the wider public through their peers and drive real change in the way we think about and tackle air pollution.

Paint your air clean

As consumers, we always think about decorating our apartments and offices. We invest in art, beautiful furniture and lighting. We can now paint our walls and clean our windows or glass surfaces with solutions that keep them cleaner and fresher for longer, while simultaneously cleaning the air outside and inside our homes and offices.

As The Economist pointed out in its recent briefing on air quality, lots of bright ideas exist for tackling air pollution already – but it’s their widespread implementation that is going to make a difference.

Therefore, as a consumer, we can do our bit and choose products with added environmental benefits that support innovation in the area.

We don’t have to give up comfort to do good.