PROGRESS on clean air is “simply not good enough”, the UK Government has been told.
Lillian Greenwood, chair of Westminster’s Transport Select Committee, hit out yesterday after a National Audit Office (NAO) report revealed 85 per cent of air quality zones across the UK still exceed legal pollution limits seven years after the deadline.
Targets were supposed to have been met in 2010, but the NAO says it will take until 2026 to meet targets for nitrogen dioxide in all zones.
Labour MP Greenwood said: “It’s clear that action on air quality is needed now.
“Waiting for almost another decade for all parts of the UK to reach acceptable levels of air quality is a deeply disappointing prospect, and simply not good enough.”
Ministers were forced to publish revised clean air plans in July, after previous proposals were ruled insufficient by the courts.
They now face further legal action from environmental law firm ClientEarth over the latest plans.
A joint inquiry by four parliamentary committees will now take place, with evidence sessions beginning later this month.
More than 150 written responses have been gathered and legal and health experts are expected to give evidence.
Conservative Andrew Selous, of Westminster’s Health Committee, said high levels of pollution have “significant impacts” on public health, exacerbating diseases and contributing to deaths from heart attacks, lung disease, diabetes and dementia.
Mary Creagh MP, who chairs the Environmental Audit Committee, said: “The Government published its third air quality plan in July after its last two were ruled illegal by the courts.
“The Government now faces its third legal challenge and unprecedented scrutiny from this super inquiry.
“They must use every tool in the box to clean up Britain’s polluted air.”
A government spokesperson defended progress, but admitted coordinated action must now be taken. She said: “Air pollution has improved significantly since 2010, but we recognise there is more to do which is why we have put in place a £3 billion plan to improve air quality and reduce harmful emissions.”
The report and enquiry are revealed against a backdrop of the COP23 UN Climate Change Conference, which aims to ensure nations meet their obligations to ensure the global temperature rise remains well below two degrees Celsius this century.
Scientists warn any increase on this rise would be catastrophic and a global deal was agreed in Paris last year.
On Wednesday Nicola Sturgeon addressed the conference, telling delegates in Bonn: “Tackling climate change is an overwhelming moral obligation that we owe to this and future generations.”
She went on: “Our ambitions must live up to the scale of the challenge and our actions must live up to our ambitions.”
Yesterday, the UK and Canada led an alliance of 20 nations committed to ending the production of coal for energy use. France, Finland and Mexico are amongst the countries that have pledged to phase out the use of coal within 15 years.
It is hoped that this initial group will grow to include 50 states before the UN holds its next major UN conference in Poland next year, with all signing up to the 2030 target.
However, the biggest coal consumers have yet to join, including America, China and Germany.
Responding, Benjamin Sporton, chief executive of the World Coal Association, said: “With the world set to use fossil fuels, including coal, for the foreseeable future, Canada and the UK should direct efforts to advancing carbon capture and storage technology because that’s much more likely to achieve global climate objectives than unrealistic calls to eliminate coal in major emerging economies.”
However, Jens Mattias Clausen of Greenpeace said: “This is another positive signal of the global momentum away from coal.”
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