A recent report by the Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG) has looked into the different ways people are impacted by poor air quality. The report highlights how the complete picture is beyond the Group’s capabilities, listing how social, environmental, geographic, and economic factors greatly impact the quality of air an individual breathes.

Referencing the UK’s world-leading datasets and how these can be utilised, the report builds on a recently published expert-led review, focusing on how emissions (including the concentrations and the population’s exposure) vary across the UK.

Much of the existing literature on how air pollution can affect communities differently is not based in the UK, so this report has been published to serve as a catalyst for future research to help the government find ways to reduce disparities.

Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG)

A committee to Defra, the AQEG are a group of expert scientists in the field of air pollution research. The committee’s primary function involves researching air pollution and providing advice directly to Defra on the levels, sources, and characteristics of air pollutants across the UK.

Members of the AQEG are independently appointed, and their duties involve providing advice to relevant government and non-government bodies, developing air quality guidance, and suggesting priority areas for future work to assist Defra’s air quality plans and goals.

In summary

One of the primary findings of the report is that more research is needed to help reduce inequalities. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for improving air quality for all groups across the UK, and the responsibilities lie with a multitude of different parties depending on the source of the pollution.

Socioeconomic status, geographic location (including region of the UK or if you live in an urban or rural area), hazardous occupations, and environmental degradation are just some of the factors that affect an individual’s exposure to air pollution.

The area you live, where you work, and how you commute to work are all largely non-adjustable factors that require different interventions to fix. However, actions acknowledging how areas with predominantly poor housing conditions correlate with lower socioeconomic status individuals can be used to tackle poor air quality, whether that is through disincentivising activities that worsen air quality (such as smoking) or improving housing conditions (through ventilation or insulation).

Interventions that tackle air quality can affect disadvantaged groups, so it is essential that reports like this are taken into account when policy is made. As the public are affected on varying scales by air pollution and solutions that try to reduce exposure to pollutants can affect certain groups more than others, it is important that policy development takes into account the lived experiences of as many relevant group as possible.

Additional research into specific areas (such as socioeconomic, geographic, or communicative) will help develop equitable policies, reducing the impact of poor air quality across the UK. Not taking into account how policies, actions, and projects may affect certain groups can limit the success of policies.

Recommendations

The report puts forward thirteen recommendations, divided into four categories:

Building upon existing datasets for better outcomes

Whilst it is agreed that socioeconomic status, ethnicity, or health vulnerabilities make you more susceptible to poor air quality and directly affect the likelihood of you experiencing air pollution, much of the research is on an international level. Research specific to the UK is needed as the limited amount of research based in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland is outdated.

Research into the factors that can affect population exposure can go hand in hand with air pollution models to help guide local actions to reducing air pollution. The UK’s strong public sector data resources, paired with machine learning opportunities for data analysis, can help identify how outcomes change across regions or communities.

Travel, work, and study

As travelling exposes the population to substantial amounts of air pollution and is a regular occurrence for many people, it should be taken into account in pollution impact assessments. The same goes for occupation; some jobs require much more frequent exposure to harmful pollution than others, guidance should consider indoor and outdoor pollution in addition to high-risk work.

Future delivery of improved air quality

As it is common for an individual to predominantly pollute through a vehicle (particularly NOx and particulate matter) and road transport accounts for the largest portion of PM2.5 in the UK, cars, buses, and other vehicles have been subject to a range of interventions to reduce air pollution.

Whilst it remains important to continue minimising exhaust emissions, other emissions sources such non-exhaust (brake dust, tyre wear), domestic combustion (from modern appliances, outdated appliances, and outdoor burning), air travel, railways, construction, and large-scale industrial processes must also be considered. This is why sector-specific policy, information, and communications are essential to help improve air quality across the UK. Initiatives to reduce domestic combustion emissions from the government, such as Ecodesign regulations and Ready to Burn fuels, may benefit those in close proximity to irresponsible burners and reduce annual emissions, but will not be as impact to someone living close to construction sites, for example.

Housing quality and indoor environment

Limited measurement data means that the well-documented data we have on the effects of housing quality cannot be used to effectively determine how other factors (such as socioeconomic status, demographics, or region) affect pollution exposure. Scientific evidence from other countries may give insights, but the UK’s range of unique housing styles make it difficult to directly apply results.

As homes across the UK are decarbonised, the impacts of new technologies and suitability of different heating methods need to be assessed to ensure indoor air pollution is kept to a minimum. This could come through assessing ventilation changes in retrofits to determine if indoor pollutants have increased or decreased.

Solid fuel as a ‘conventional air pollutant source’

As a significant amount of indoor air pollution stems from outdoor air pollution, it is no surprise that deprived areas and areas close to sources of pollution (such as roads, factories, or construction sites) are subject to worsened air indoor air quality in addition to outdoor air quality.

Poorly maintained or improperly used gas appliances (including cookers and boilers) and solid fuel appliances can lead to much higher indoor air pollution. It is not uncommon for households of lower socioeconomic status (or fuel poor households) to neglect appliance maintenance (such as regular chimney sweeping or appliance servicing), which can increase indoor air pollution as the appliance runs sub-optimally. This also leads to increased long-term costs as the appliance will run less efficiently, producing less heat per log, and often coincides with sub-optimal operation.

There is also a contrasting take in the report, where the preference of solid fuel appliances in higher income households should mean poor indoor air quality is less likely (as they have the funds to pay for a quality installation as well as regular servicing and sweeping), yet this is not always the case.

Potential for the future

Looking at this through the scope of the solid fuel and biomass industry, the UK’s world-leading air quality monitoring tools and our open access datasets greatly help our efforts to further understanding.

Current limitations on source apportionment may inhibit our full understanding of the specific ways we can continue to reduce our emissions, but recent improvements in annual domestic combustion emissions that will have been partly helped by initiatives such as Ready to Burn, Ecodesign, and increased user awareness demonstrate ways we can continue to minimise emissions.

Further work where specific areas are focused, such as through local authorities’ efforts, could help mitigate the disparity of air pollution across different socioeconomic groups. As urban and rural air quality varies due to population density, different solutions may be required to reduce inequality.

HETAS will continue to work closely with the relevant government departments, local authorities, and policymakers to find just, actionable ways that we can reduce our sector’s environmental impact. Industry has made great strides in recent years and the efforts of each individual, manufacturer, and business cannot be understated. Research like this helps us to understand the deeper, more personal impact our efforts have across the UK, and let us keep pushing for improvements.

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