Finally, good news for the UK’s air quality records. In some UK cities air pollution has been twice the World Health Organisation’s recommended maximum levels in recent years and as part EU’s air quality standard for dangerous airborne particles (PM10s), the UK is now threatened with legal action for failing to comply with acceptable levels.
Yet it seems that now there may be a glimmer of hope, as the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has today released figures which show that emissions of all gases covered in the UK Air Quality Directive fell between 2006 and 2007, with the small exception of benzene.
The pollutants covered by the directive include 1.3-butadiene, carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, particulates (PM10 and PM2.5), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and sulphur dioxide. The UK Air Quality Directive contains policies for the assessment and management of air quality and for the implementation of European Union (EU) and other international agreements. The Directive sets objectives for the main air pollutants to thought to be dangerous to human health and ecosystems.
Defra has also published the 2007 results from the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) for UK emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) and ammonia.
The National Emissions Ceiling Directive (NECD) as set by the EU governs the acceptable emission levels for these gases and the UK can now proudly boast that emissions of each of the four pollutants have fallen between 2006 and 2007, with decreases of 2 per cent for NMVOCs, 3 per cent for ammonia, 7 per cent for nitrogen oxides, and 12 per cent for sulphur dioxide. In many places, it means that the UK is now meeting its commitments for these four gases.
This represents a continuation of the long term trend of a reduction in emissions of these pollutants. Since 1990, there have been decreases of 21 per cent for ammonia, 46 per cent for nitrogen oxides, 64 per cent for NMVOCs, and 84 per cent for sulphur dioxide.
These four pollutants are primarily responsible for acidification and eutrophication which can be damaging to ecosystems, and the formation of ground-level ozone which can be harmful to both human health and ecosystems.
There was an 12 per cent decrease in sulphur dioxide emissions from 0.67 million tonnes in 2006 to 0.59 million tonnes in 2007. The UK is committed to reducing emissions to approximately 0.59 million tonnes by 2010 under the EU NECD, so is already on target. The main source of emissions of sulphur dioxide in 2007 was combustion in energy production and manufacturing industries.
Emissions of nitrogen oxides fell 7 per cent, from 1.60 million tonnes in 2006 to 1.49 million tonnes in 2007. The UK is committed to reducing emissions to approximately 1.17 million tonnes under the EU NECD by 2010, so unfortunately still needs to make significant cuts in nitrogen emissions to meet the target. Road transport sadly was the largest source of emissions of nitrogen oxides in 2007, accounting for 30 per cent of the total.
There was a 2 per cent decrease in emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) from 0.96 million tonnes in 2006 to 0.94 million tonnes in 2007. The UK is committed to reducing emissions to approximately 1.20 million tonnes by 2010 under the EU NECD so has already exceeded this commitment.
And finally, there was a 3 per cent decrease in emissions of ammonia, from 297 thousand tonnes in 2006, to 289 thousand tonnes in 2007. The UK is committed to reducing ammonia emissions to below 297 thousand tonnes by 2010 under the NECD so is on target here also.
