UK brought to court on bad air quality

Clear message from the UK to the European Commission. Photo: Omar Parada / Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-ND

New figures from the UK government show air quality in some of the country’s biggest cities will not meet European Union pollution limits until after 2030, twenty years after the original deadline.

Under the EU’s air quality legislation, member states were supposed to comply with limits on nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) in 2010, but could extend that to 2015 if they delivered plans that specified how these limits were to be achieved by that later date.

Until this summer, the UK government has maintained it would meet NO₂ limits by 2025 in London and by 2020 in 15 other zones, i.e. long after the legal deadline.

But on 10 July, at a European Court of Justice (ECJ) hearing, the UK government revealed that it will not meet the NO₂ limits until after 2030 in the Greater London urban area, West Midlands urban area and West Yorkshire urban area. This is 20 years after the original legal deadline and five years later than previously admitted.

According to ClientEarth, this information had previously been disclosed by the UK in legally privileged correspondence responding to a separate legal action brought by the European Commission in February this year.

Alan Andrews, a lawyer for ClientEarth, which has brought a case against the UK for the air quality breach that was heard by the ECJ, said: “It’s bad enough that the government has no intention of complying with these limits in the foreseeable future. It’s even worse that they’re trying to hide behind legal procedural rules to keep this quiet. We have a right to breathe clean air and the right to know when the government is failing to protect us. Another five years of delay means thousands more people will die or be made seriously ill. The UK needs to act now to get deadly diesel vehicles out of our towns and cities.”

Lawyers representing the European Commission told the ECJ that the case was “a matter of life and death” and “perhaps the longest-running infringement of EU law in history”.

Last year, the UK Supreme Court declared that the UK government was breaching its legal duty to achieve limits for nitrogen dioxide. It then asked the ECJ to rule on what remedial action it can compel the government to take. The ECJ’s judgment is expected before the end of 2014. It will be binding on the UK courts and the national courts in all 28 EU member states. The case will then return to the UK Supreme Court in early 2015 for a final ruling.

Alan Andrews, ClientEarth lawyer, said: “This case is about the right to breathe clean air and could have a huge impact far beyond the UK’s borders. It could force governments across the EU to take action.”

Also in July, air pollution experts at King’s College in London said that NO₂ levels in London’s Oxford Street were among the worst in the world. Monitoring data showed that concentrations of NO₂ reached an average of 135 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³) of air, over three times the EU’s limit of 40 µg/m³. This figure is a 24-hour average that was reached by including night times when traffic was lower, meaning that shoppers, workers and tourists are facing much higher levels of NO₂ during the day.

In March this year, concentrations as high as 463 µg/m³ were recorded during a peak episode. The high NO₂ levels at Oxford Street are primarily due to the intense congestion of diesel-powered buses and taxis on the high street.

Exhaust emissions from diesel vehicles in road traffic are a main source of NO₂, and UK tax policies have encouraged the uptake of diesel cars. From 2000 to 2010 the share of diesel-powered cars increased from 14 per cent to almost 50 per cent of new cars sold in the country.

Client Earth argues that the latest scientific evidence shows NO₂ to have similar health effects to particulate matter (PM_2.5), which has been estimated to cause around 29,000 premature deaths in Britain each year.

Christer Ågren

Source: ClientEarth press release, 10 July 2014.

UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) air quality information

In this issue

Air pollution still harms ecosystems

While acidification has been greatly reduced since its peak in 1980, emissions of nitrogen-containing air pollutants continue to damage more than half of sensitive ecosystems.

Editorial: Protect people and nature from air pollution

Since their peak around thirty years ago, emissions of air pollutants in Europe have come down significantly. Tougher emission standards for industry and road vehicles have resulted in less polluting power plants and cars.

Continued succes for renewables

Denmark got 41 per cent of its power from the wind in the first six months of 2014. Renewables are advancing all over Europe.

Saving Turkey from coal

Turkey should stop the construction of new coal- and lignite-fired power stations and start phasing out the existing ones, says Greenpeace Mediterranean.

A fair share of climate responsibility

Annex 1 countries need to have negative emissions of 441 GtCO₂ by 2050, according to a new equity proposal from several Latin American countries.

Lignite power provides bargain-priced pollution

Combustion of lignite is one of the environmentally worst ways to generate energy. Even so, there is a continued increase in many parts of Europe.

Proposal for coal phase-out in Germany

BUND, a German environmental organisation, suggests a legally binding law to close all coal power stations by 2030.

Emissions are falling – but not enough

While emissions of acidifying sulphur pollutants in the EU have come down by 84 per cent since 1990, those of nitrogen compounds have fallen only by 41 per cent.

UK brought to court on bad air quality

New figures from the UK government show air quality in some of the country’s biggest cities will not meet European Union pollution limits until after 2030, twenty years after the original deadline.

Sustainable food choices

Excluding meat from our diet is not enough on its own to benefit the climate. Eating a lot of cheese or simply eating a lot of everything also leads to high greenhouse gas emissions.

New figures on global ship emissions

In 2012 worldwide shipping consumed some 300 million tonnes of fuel oil, resulting in emissions of 949 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. Unless concerted action is taken, these emissions are expected to grow by up to five times by 2050.

US to cut CO2 from existing power plants

By 2030, the CPP proposal should reduce CO₂ emissions from the power sector by 30 per cent nationwide, compared to 2005 levels, and provide up to US$93 billion in climate and public health benefits

Carbon dioxide concentration surges

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased last year at the fastest rate for nearly 30 years, according to the latest data from the WMO.

EU’s Dirty thirty

The thirty most CO₂-polluting power plants in Europe also cause 20 per cent of the health costs of the sector.

Main menu

UK brought to court on bad air quality

In this issue

Air pollution still harms ecosystems

Editorial: Protect people and nature from air pollution

Continued succes for renewables

Saving Turkey from coal

A fair share of climate responsibility

Lignite power provides bargain-priced pollution

Proposal for coal phase-out in Germany

Emissions are falling – but not enough

UK brought to court on bad air quality

Sustainable food choices

New figures on global ship emissions

US to cut CO2 from existing power plants

Carbon dioxide concentration surges

EU’s Dirty thirty

Publications

Food for Thought

Northern forests, climate change and the UNFCCC

EU climate targets aligned with the Paris agreement’s 1.5°C objective

Baltic Sea Offshore Wind Collaborative-Learning project

Air pollution in Europe and children’s health

Climate Change: A Himalayan Odessey

No further discussion needed. The agreed global goal is to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C

Fossil-free electricity 2021

What we do

Air pollution

Climate Change

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