Shock figures to reveal deadly toll of global air pollution 

Posted on January 17, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

World Health Organisation describes new data as ‘health emergency’, with rising concern likely to influence decision over Heathrow expansion

The World Health Organisation has issued a stark new warning about deadly levels of pollution in many of the world’s biggest cities, claiming poor air quality is killing millions and threatening to overwhelm health services across the globe.

Before the release next month of figures that will show air pollution has worsened since 2014 in hundreds of already blighted urban areas, the WHO says there is now a global “public health emergency” that will have untold financial implications for governments.

The latest data, taken from 2,000 cities, will show further deterioration in many places as populations have grown, leaving large areas under clouds of smog created by a mix of transport fumes, construction dust, toxic gases from power generation and wood burning in homes.

The toxic haze blanketing cities could be clearly seen last week from the international space station. Last week it was also revealed that several streets in London had exceeded their annual limits for nitrogen dioxide emissions just a few days into 2016.

“We have a public health emergency in many countries from pollution. It’s dramatic, one of the biggest problems we are facing globally, with horrible future costs to society,” said Maria Neira, head of public health at the WHO, which is a specialist agency of the United Nations. “Air pollution leads to chronic diseases which require hospital space. Before, we knew that pollution was responsible for diseases like pneumonia and asthma. Now we know that it leads to bloodstream, heart and cardiovascular diseases, too – even dementia. We are storing up problems. These are chronic diseases that require hospital beds. The cost will be enormous,” said Neira.

Last week David Cameron, whose government has been accused of dragging its feet over air pollution and is facing legal challenges over alleged inaction, conceded in the Commons that the growing problem of air pollution in urban areas of the UK has implications for major policy decisions such as whether to expand Heathrow airport.

Asked by Tory MP Tania Mathias to pledge that he would never allow Heathrow to expand while nitrogen dioxide levels are risking the health of millions, Cameron said she was right to raise the matter, which was now “directly being taken on by the government”. Last December, after warnings from the Commons environmental audit committee and others, Cameron put off a decision on Heathrow expansion for at least another six months.

Government sources say Cameron and other ministers are now taking the air pollution issue far more seriously. In 2014 the prime minister was widely criticised for describing it as “a naturally occurring weather phenomenon”.

According to the UN, there are now 3.3 million premature deaths every year from air pollution, about three-quarters of which are from strokes and heart attacks. With nearly 1.4 million deaths a year, China has the most air pollution fatalities, followed by India with 645,000 and Pakistan with 110,000.

In Britain, where latest figures suggest that around 29,000 people a year die prematurely from particulate pollution and thousands more from long-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide gas, emitted largely by diesel engines, the government is being taken to court over its intention to delay addressing pollution for at least 10 years.

The NGO ClientEarth, which last year forced ministers to come up with fresh plans to tackle illegal nitrogen dioxide levels in British cities, said that it would seek urgent court action because the proposed solutions would take so long to implement and produce cleaner environments. Under the latest government plan, announced before Christmas, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) promised clean air zones for five cities by 2020 in addition to one already planned for London. But this will mean it will years before cities such as Manchester, Cardiff and Edinburgh feel the benefits.

Frank Kelly, director of the environmental health research group at King’s College London, and an adviser to several governments on the health risks of pollution, told the Observer that air pollution had become a “global plague”. “It affects everyone, above all people in cities. As the world becomes more urbanised, it is becoming worse.”

Sotiris Vardoulakis, head of Public Health England’s environmental change department, said: “It’s the leading environmental health risk factor in the UK, responsible for 5% of all adult mortality. If we take action to reduce it, it will have multiple health co-benefits like lower greenhouse gas emissions and healthier cities. Air pollution has an impact on NHS spending, but we have not quantified it.”

A new report from the EU’s European Environment Agency (EEA) says pollution is now also the single largest environmental health risk in Europe, responsible for more than 430,000 premature deaths. “It shortens people’s lifespan and contributes to serious illnesses such as heart disease, respiratory problems and cancer. It also has considerable economic impacts, increasing medical costs and reducing productivity,” said the EEA director Hans Bruyninckx.

Leading economist Lord Stern said air pollution was an important factor in climate change. “Air pollution is of fundamental importance. We are only just learning about the scale of the toxicity of coal and diesel. We know that in China, 4,000 people a day die of air pollution. In India it is far worse. This is a deep, deep problem,” he said.

The latest scientific research, published in the journal Nature, suggests that air pollution now kills more people a year than malaria and HIV combined, and in many countries accounts for roughly 10 times more deaths than road accidents.

According to the WHO, air quality is deteriorating around the world to the point where only one in eight people live in cities that meet recommended air pollution levels.

On Monday the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, will give evidence in a trial of 13 climate change activists who occupied a Heathrow runway in July, delaying or cancelling flights. The Labour MP, whose Hayes and Harlington constituency includes Heathrow airport, has been a prominent opponent of the airport’s expansion and has strongly backed local residents who are resisting a third runway. At a rally in October he said: “In my constituency at the moment, people are literally dying. They’re dying because the air has already been poisoned by the aviation industry.”

 

Source: Shock figures to reveal deadly toll of global air pollution | Environment | The Guardian

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Air pollution and traffic fumes tied to infertility risk

Posted on January 16, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Women who live close to major highways where the air is polluted by traffic exhaust fumes may be slightly more likely to have fertility problems than women who live further away where the air is cleaner, a U.S. study suggests.

Researchers followed more than 36,000 women from 1993 until 2003 and analyzed air pollution and traffic exhaust near their homes to see if what they breathed might be connected to their ability to conceive.

Over the study period, there were about 2,500 reported cases of infertility. Women who lived close to a major roadway – within 199 meters, or about a tenth of a mile – were 11 percent more likely to experience this problem than women who lived farther from a highway, the study found.

“The risks are slight,” said study leader Dr. Shruthi Mahalingaiah, a researcher at Boston University School of Medicine, in an email.

But even the slight increased risk can present a big global public health problem, said Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, a researcher at the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health.

“For an individual woman the results may not be that important because the risk of infertility only increases slightly, but for society as a whole it is important because so many women are exposed to air pollution,” Nieuwenhuijsen added by email.

To look at the link between infertility and air pollution, Mahalingaiah and colleagues examined data on what’s known as particulate matter – a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets that can include dust, dirt, soot and smoke – near women’s homes and also assessed how close their residences were to major roads.

They focused on what’s known as primary infertility, when women try to conceive for at least a year without success, as well as secondary infertility, which refers to couples who struggle with conception after having at least one prior pregnancy.

When women lived close to major roads, they were 5 percent more likely to report primary infertility, an increase in risk that wasn’t statistically significant, meaning it might have been due to chance.

But these women were 21 percent more likely to report secondary infertility than women who lived farther away, and that increase was statistically significant, researchers report in the journal Human Reproduction.

This association was found even at relatively low concentrations of particulate matter, or less polluted air, although the connection became stronger as the pollution levels increased.

One limitation of the study, however, is that researchers didn’t know the exact dates when conception efforts started or infertility was diagnosed, making it difficult to closely examine how the timing of pollution exposure might influence the odds of pregnancy.

While the study is one of the first of its kind to follow so many women over such a long period of time, more research is needed before making medical recommendations based on the results, Mahalingaiah said.

Even so, the findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that pollution can negatively impact conception efforts, said Dr. Sajal Gupta, a researcher at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio who wasn’t involved in the study.

“Couples suffering from infertility need to exercise caution especially if they are residing in areas with high ambient particulate matter,” Gupta said by email. “Relocating to areas with low contamination of particulate matter is an alternative to prevent adverse impact on fertility.”

Infertility is just one of many health problems tied to air pollution, noted Christopher Somers, a biology researcher at the University of Regina in Canada who wasn’t involved in the study.

“Air pollution is worse near major roads with high traffic volumes, so avoid living in these areas if you can,” Somers said by email. “If this is not an option, pay attention to air quality advisories and adjust outdoor activities accordingly.”

Source: Air pollution and traffic fumes tied to infertility risk | Reuters

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London breaches air pollution limit for the whole of 2016 in just over seven days 

Posted on January 15, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd
Motorists are responsible for deadly air pollution in the capital

Motorists are responsible for deadly air pollution in the capital

London breached its own legal limit on air pollution for the whole of 2016 in just over seven days, according to worrying new figures.

Under EU rules the capital is allowed to exceed the maximum safe levels of nitrous oxide for 18 hours a year – an allocation it had burned through by the peak of the morning rush hour on Friday 8 January.

Putney High Street and Knightsbridge were the first two areas to report breaches. Last year Oxford Street reported a breach within two days of the new year beginning.

Last year the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants warned the Government that as many as 60,000 early deaths a year are caused by air pollution across the UK.

The number, higher than previously thought, was calculated by including the effects of Nitrous Oxide in the death toll for the first time.

Despite mounting evidence of their dangers, motor vehicles are still permitted in city centres – including in central London.

Boris Johnson has plans to bring in an “ultra low emission zone” in central London but the plan will not be rolled out until 2020.

Additionally, that rule will not completely ban motor traffic – instead charging the most polluting vehicles £100 a day if they drive in central London.

Both Labour and Conservative 2016 London mayoral candidates Sadiq Khan and Zac Goldsmith have said they would like to pedestrianise Oxford Street – Britain’s most polluted street.

Cities around the world have taken more dramatic action to save lives, however. An emergency scheme was rolled out in Paris last year to ban half of cars from the road on alternating days until pollution subsided.

Simon Birkett, founder and director of campaign group Clean Air in London, said: “It is breathtaking that toxic air pollution has breached the legal limit for a whole calendar year within a few days.

“Worse, several air pollution monitors have been vying for the dubious honour of recording the first officially monitored breach of the nitrogen dioxide legal limit in the world in 2016.

“Oxford Street would have been first again if it hadn’t been ‘offline’ since last Sunday afternoon – possibly due to vandalism of the scientific equipment.”

Dr Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation,  said: “We’ve seen pollution limits broken repeatedly in areas such as Oxford Street and Putney High Street over recent years. Given that so little has been done to address the crisis, it is no surprise that London has already reached its air pollution limits.

“Unless we clean up public transport by speeding up the introduction of cleaner buses and taxis, and invest in infrastructure for cyclists, we will be in this same position next year, and the year after.

“Air pollution causes tens of thousands of early deaths every year, increases the risk of lung cancer and impairs child lung development. Given the severity of the problem, immediate action must be taken by the government.”

Mr Johnson has cited air pollution from Heathrow airport as one reason for not expanding the airport.

His administration has also increased the number of hybrid buses serving Transport for London routes, improved alternative routes for bicycles, and is mandating new taxis to go zero-emission from 2018.

Source: London breaches air pollution limit for the whole of 2016 in just over seven days | UK Politics | News | The Independent

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Air pollution: UK environment ministers face court action within weeks 

Posted on January 14, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Law firm ClientEarth says it will seek urgent court action because of the risk to people’s lives from dangerous emissions

UK environment ministers will be taken to court within weeks to make them speed up plans to reduce dangerous urban air pollution.

Law firm ClientEarth, which last year forced the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to come up with fresh plans to tackle illegal NO2 levels in British cities, warned that it would seek urgent court action because thousands of people’s lives were at risk if present government plans were not strengthened.

Under new plans revealed before Christmas, Defra promised clean air zones for five cities by 2020 in addition to one already planned for London. But it will still take at least five years to clean up pollution in many cities, including Manchester, Cardiff and Edinburgh.

“The government seem to think that the health of people in cities like Glasgow, Manchester and Bristol is less important than that of people in London. While London gets a clean air zone covering all vehicles, Birmingham gets a second-class zone and Derby and Southampton third-class, while other areas including Manchester and Liverpool are left out. We all have the same right to breathe clean air,” said Alan Andrews of ClientEarth.

Andrews said that ClientEarth would go to the high court by 17 March and would ask for the case to be fast-tracked because people’s lives were at risk. Nearly 6,000 people die prematurely each year in London alone because of NO2,according to one study.

“They [the government] have had since 2011. We are looking for a hearing this year, hopefully before the summer. This is such an urgent issue.

“The supreme court ordered government to take immediate action. These plans are an outrageous statement … that the government doesn’t intend to comply as soon as possible. It is an arrogant response that is simply not good enough,” he said.

In an article for the Guardian on Wednesday, barrister Justine Thornton, the wife of former Labour party leader Ed Miliband, says air pollution is a political scandal which the courts should resolve.

“The government is still putting short-term political priorities ahead of public health and people’s lives. The revised air pollution plan soft pedals on pollution by private motorists while the government appears intent on watering down European legal limits for vehicle emissions.

“The stage is set for a fascinating tussle between law and politics. The UK court will have to roll up its sleeves and decide whether this government is doing what it can to make our air as safe as possible,” wrote Thornton, who will next month formally become a QC.

“Ten more years of dangerous air pollution in London puts a whole generation of children at risk. The quality of the air that our children breathe is too important to be decided behind closed doors by government and vehicle manufacturers,” she wrote.

NO2 pollution limits for the whole year were breached in Putney high street and Knightsbridge last week. These state that maximum hourly nitrogen dioxide concentrations are not exceeded for more than 18 hours a year.

Source: Air pollution: UK environment ministers face court action within weeks | Environment | The Guardian

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Air pollution at this level for 10 more years will put a generation at risk 

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

The courts must be involved: the quality of air our children breathe is too important to be decided in secret by ministers and the motor trade

When I was eight years old, I used to hold my breath when I walked to school. My route was along a busy road, and I had been told that lead in petrol hurt children’s brains. I stopped worrying as the years went by and there was a successful campaign to ban it. But now I sometimes find myself coughing as I wait on my bike behind a London bus and its fumes catch in my throat.

The science is clear: nitrogen dioxide from road traffic is seriously bad for our health – particularly for children and elderly people, because it can inflame our lungs and lower our resistance to respiratory infections such as bronchitis. So much so that 23,500 people in the UK are expected to die prematurely every year because of this air pollution. Imagine if knife crime or terrorism were killing people in these numbers – it would be described as a national crisis.

In the old days we could at least see the smog. But this is an invisible killer, hidden from sight and sheltered from political controversy.

Great swaths of the UK have nitrogen dioxide levels that are considered unsafe for human health. One of the main culprits is emissions from diesel vehicles. As we now know from the Volkswagen scandal, the emissions from diesel vehicles are often much higher than predicted in lab tests.

Public disquiet about all this is, at last, beginning to stir. There is concern about the impact a third runway at Heathrow would have on already shockingly bad air pollution levels in the capital. The House of Commons environment committee recently said Heathrow should not be allowed to expand unless the government can demonstrate that air quality is within legal limits.

What has not been talked about much is the role of the courts in forcing the government to take action. As a barrister specialising in environmental law, I regularly see the tension between the courts and governments of different colours over environmental issues. In 2007 I watched with interest as the high court told the then Labour government that its public consultation on nuclear power was seriously flawed. Now inaction over air pollution means it is the turn of the current Conservative government to face sanction.

Last year the supreme court reached its judgment in a long-running legal challenge by the campaign group ClientEarth over UK breaches of European air pollution law. Britain is not alone in breaching EU law: a number of other member states are in a similar position.

Here, the supreme court has ordered the government to produce a plan to reduce nitrogen dioxide levels to safe levels in as short a timescale as possible. It gave the government six months to do so, and allowed ClientEarth to return to court in the event it is not satisfied with the response. Forcing the government to act in this way was an unusual move because courts usually accept Whitehall’s word that it will take steps to meet its legal obligations. In doing so, the court said it had been influenced by the seriousness of the legal breach and the way air pollution had continued to worsen over the last four years, during which time the litigation has been running.

The courts recognise that reducing air pollution will not be easy. In the ClientEarth case, the high court judge referred to the “heavy burden of expenditure” on taxpayers and individuals “which would require difficult political choices to be made”.

The government published its revised air pollution plans in the runup to Christmas. Given the legal backdrop, it may not be entirely coincidental that shortly before the plans were published the decision on a third runway at Heathrow was delayed to enable a further look at air pollution and other environmental concerns.

Judicial pressure appears to be having a direct effect on the government. At the court hearing in April 2015 the government told the supreme court that parts of London, the West Midlands and West Yorkshire would still be at illegal limits in 2030. Under the plan produced in December, the timescales for compliance have shortened. The West Midlands and Yorkshire are expected to be in compliance with legal levels in 2020, London in 2025.

That is not good enough for ClientEarth, which accuses the government of still putting short-term political priorities ahead of public health and people’s lives. The revised plan soft-pedals on pollution by private motorists while the government appears intent on watering down EU legal limits for vehicle emissions.

The stage is set for a fascinating tussle between law and politics. The British court will have to roll up its sleeves and decide whether this government is doing what it can to make our air as safe as possible. No matter how tough the political choices, EU law has consistently made clear that financial and political difficulties are no defence for countries that fail to comply with their legal obligations. The European court has said it is up to national courts to call their governments to account for air pollution failures.

I hope the courts closely scrutinise the government’s plan. Ten more years of dangerous air pollution in the capital puts a whole generation of children at risk. Judicial review can assist in identifying the political choices made on our behalf in the plan, to better inform public debate about the difficult decisions ahead.

Securing the proper boundary between the role of unelected judges in determining legality, and elected government in determining policy and priorities, is never easy. The supreme court will be fully aware of the sensitivities involved, but equally the court is clearly determined not to allow the government to duck its legal duties to citizens. The quality of the air our children breathe is too important to be decided behind closed doors by the government and vehicle manufacturers.

Source: Air pollution at this level for 10 more years will put a generation at risk | Justine Thornton | Opinion | The Guardian

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Mumbai’s air swings between ‘poor’ and ‘severe’ 

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Mumbai’s air quality differs in different pockets because of variable topography, wind movement and factors such as vehicular density, industries, biomass burning, bakeries, construction, garbage dump sites

On Sunday, Mumbaikars woke up to poor air quality. At 10 a.m., the National Air Quality Index (AQI) recorded pollution levels as high as 249, falling in the range of ‘very unhealthy’ air. By 3 p.m., the air quality had improved to ‘unhealthy’.

With many fluctuations in data, Mumbai’s air quality differs in different pockets because of variable topography, wind movement and factors such as vehicular density, industries, biomass burning, bakeries, construction, garbage dump sites, pointed out Rakesh Kumar, scientist and head, Mumbai Zonal Center, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI).

The New Year began with a spot of good news for the residents of Chembur, commonly referred to as the ‘gas chamber’ of Mumbai. Despite, heavy industrial activity and power generation in the eastern suburb, it saw a spell of clean air thanks to calm winds, which did not carry emissions from the industrial locations, according to an analysis by Gufran Beig, scientist and project director at System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), Pune – an initiative of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (Ministry of Earth Sciences).

As per SAFAR’s study, air quality at Chembur was ‘satisfactory’ or ‘good’ in the first five days of this year. Bhandup, Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), Malad, Mazgaon, Andheri and Borivali reeled under ‘very poor’ to ‘poor’ pollution levels.

“Industrial pollution is at a point source or localised. Since the wind became calm and there was moisture in the air, the emissions from industries became stagnant and could not be dispersed over the nearby areas. Chembur can be generally clean, but for the dispersion of pollutants,” Dr Beig told The Hindu on Sunday.

Despite a lot of traffic and proximity to Churchgate and CST stations, Colaba has relatively cleaner air owing to a good green cover, Dr Beig said.

Andheri and Borivali, accessed by the arterial eight-lane Western Express Highway, have high levels of pollution. Mazgaon, which houses industrial estates of small of medium scale, had the worst air quality, falling in the range of ‘very poor’ every day till January 9.

“The transport sector is the biggest contributor to Mumbai’s air pollution, followed by industrial pollution, wind-blown dust and lastly bio-fuel emissions. Mumbai has heavy air which catches the emissions. Dust from unpaved roads gets aggravated due to heavy traffic. In the slum areas, such as Dharavi, Mankhurd, Deonar, air pollution is high due to the burning of bio-fuels such as coal and wood for cooking. The situation is better than in Delhi as a lot of people in Mumbai slums are connected to LPG. Over 70 per cent of the people in Dharavi have LPG but the slum itself is so huge and spread over such a vast area that even the lesser percentage using bio-fuels makes for high levels of pollution,” Dr Beig said.

The government’s AQI considers eight pollutants: PM10 (particulate matter up to 10 micrometers in size, result of dust); PM2.5 (particulate matter up to 2.5 micrometers in size, result of vehicle emissions, coal burning); NO2 (nitrogen dioxide, result of vehicle emissions and power plants); SO2 (sulphur dioxide, result of burning of coal, industrial and vehicle emissions); CO (carbon monoxide, result of vehicles run on diesel, gasoline); O3 (ozone, a layer of gas shields us UV rays, but harmful if present in lower atmosphere); NH3 (ammonia, emitted in agricultural processes) and Pb (lead, can be released into soil, air and water through soil erosion, volcanic eruptions, sea spray and bushfires).

In Mumbai, PM2.5 and PM10 remain the dominant pollutants, with PM2.5 being more harmful of the two, as it can get directly deposited to the bloodstream through inhalation. Vehicular pollution is the main cause of PM2.5, whereas PM10 results from dust. Areas with dug up or unpaved roads and construction projects see a high concentration of PM10.

Experts say it would be wrong to see the problem in terms of largest contributors to air pollution. “What has an impact is the air pollution at the ground level and our exposure to it. We can say that it is vehicle, construction activities, re-suspension or road dust, biomass/garbage burning, as large sources. In smaller pockets, bakeries, crematoria also create local hotspots,” Dr. Kumar said.

Toxicity matters

It is not just the quantity of pollutants, but also their characteristic which affect the air. However, AQI does not reflect this and the data fall short of the complete truth. In terms of PM2.5, for instance, the “toxicity” of the particulate matter is very important.

“The current air quality data tells you the amount of particulate matter in the air but not the chemical character of that matter, such as whether it has sulphate, nitrate or carbon. Bio-fuels emit black carbon which is the deadliest pollutant. It results from burning of coal or wood at low temperatures, as in cooking, releasing a high amount of carbon. Industrial burning of coal, on the other hand, is a high combustion activity. Low combustion increases the toxicity of the air even though the PM2.5 level may be low. For example, if the PM2.5 level is 25, but it is composed of carbon, it is more harmful than a PM2.5 level of 100 with low carbon component. Advance research in this area is under way,” Dr Beig said.

More parameters

In addition to the eight pollutants considered by AQI, SAFAR tracks other parameters, such as NOx (a generic term for mono-nitrogen oxides NO and NO₂); Methane (CH4) (a greenhouse gas); benzene (pollutant often released from oil refineries and traffic), toluene (component of petrol), xylene (used in blending petrol) and mercury (produced by coal-fired power plants, other industrial processes).

Dr. Kumar of NEERI raised concerns over increasing levels of NOx in some pockets of the city. An irritant gas NOx results from diesel-powered trucks and passenger cars.

Mumbai is blessed with the sea and the sea breeze can help dilute and disperse pollution. “Land and sea breeze help during the 24-hour period to dilute the air. However, there are areas of Mumbai which do not get enough wind and therefore dilution is limited,” Dr. Kumar said.

Winter woes

Seasonal changes affect the air quality of Mumbai, winter being the most polluting time, followed by summer, while monsoon is the least polluted.

“In winter there is an ‘inversion layer’ – layer of the atmosphere in which there is temperature inversion preventing the air below it from rising, thus trapping pollutants. This layer, which is up to two km away from the lower atmosphere, comes down to up to one km in winter, preventing the diffusion of pollution. It is like a cover. In Delhi it comes down to as low as 100 metres,” Dr. Beig said.

Health problems are seen when someone is exposed to pollutants consistently for a period of 24 hours. Children and old people are at a greater risk. At ‘very poor’ levels of air quality, respiratory problems are aggravated and asthmatics can get seasonal attacks.

Solutions

Paving the roads to allow for absorption of water instead of completely sealing them with cement can reduce PM10. Signal synchronisation can help lower vehicle emissions, suggested Dr. Beig. “If you know the amount of time the signal stays red, you can turn off the engine of your vehicle. In case of jams, crawling traffic, the vehicle engine keeps running and congestion goes up.” Last June, SAFAR started a mobile application, which gave the air quality forecast for the next three days.

“A major cause of air pollution is congestion for which a poor pedestrian system and encroachments on roads are responsible. Public transport has become expensive and not available at most locations. Mumbai needs to very quickly augment public transport through cross-financing by way of charging fees for every kilometre travelled by private vehicles. Clean air fund as a concept was given to the government a few years back to improve public transport,” Dr. Kumar said.

Source: Mumbai’s air swings between ‘poor’ and ‘severe’ – The Hindu

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Drivers May Pay for Next Step in Fight Against Air Pollution

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

Some U.S. drivers may soon see a new expense at the gas pump: the cost of taking the global-warming fight on the road.

New York and four other states are exploring ways to put a price on the air pollution spewing from cars, trucks, trains and other vehicles — the source of more than a third of greenhouse-gas emissions in the northeastern U.S.

The result may eventually be new taxes, tolls or a pollution-trading system that could raise $3 billion a year or more for mass transit, electric-vehicle rebates and other projects, supporters say. With the Paris climate deal in the rear-view mirror and governments moving alreadyto put a price on industrial emissions, especially from power plants, regulators are starting to focus on tailpipe pollution.

“Transportation is one of the largest sources of carbon dioxide emissions in the nation and innovative strategies are needed to reduce these emissions,” Lori Severino, a spokeswoman for New York state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, said in an e-mail. She stressed that discussions “are just beginning” and there’s no preference for specific policies.

The states may follow the lead of California, which last year extended its pollution-trading system to cover fuel distributors and refineries. The impact would ripple far beyond the direct targets, however, affecting drivers at the pump, oil companies worried about gasoline sales and automakers that may see demand shift toward more efficient vehicles.

In their Nov. 24 letter, released on the eve of international climate talks in Paris, the five states vowed to “achieve substantial reductions in transportation sector emissions and provide net economic benefits.” Besides New York, the effort includes Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island and Vermont, along with Washington, D.C.

Market-Based Policies

The group pledged to study “market-based policies” to cut transportation emissions; they’re expected to resume talks early this year, according to Vicki Arroyo of the Georgetown Climate Center in Washington, which is organizing the review.

Options under discussion include gas taxes, tolls or fees based on miles driven or vehicle efficiency. Also likely to be discussed: a cap and trade system, in which regulators set a limit on total pollution and let individual companies buy and sell permits covering their output. That theoretically encourages participants to find cost-effective ways to clean up the air.

New York and eight other states already run a trading system for power-plant emissions in the northeast, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. California has a similar market and expanded it last January to include transport fuels.

Oil Companies

The oil industry resisted the move in California and would likely do the same in the Northeast, said Andre Templeman, managing director at Houston-based carbon consultant Alpha Inception.

“Transportation could be a huge expansion” for U.S. pollution markets, he said. “The oil companies would probably not take this lying down. That’s a fight they’d pour a lot of energy into.”

California’s emissions market added about 10 cents to the cost of a gallon of gasoline, according to the California Air Resources Board, which oversees the cap-and-trade system. The impact on drivers was largely offset by the plunge in oil prices, said Templeman.

Greenhouse-Gas Cuts

In the northeast, some combination of taxes, tolls or trading may raise $3 billion annually over 15 years to support electric-vehicle sales, expand freight rail and mass transit and take other pollution-cutting steps, according to a Georgetown Climate Centerreport released with the November letter. Such efforts are a necessity if states are to make the deep greenhouse-gas cuts they’ve promised by mid-century. Transportation accounts for 35 percent of carbon emissions in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, the single largest source, according to the report.

Other states are watching the talks, said Arroyo, the center’s executive director. The attraction is both financial and environmental: States have seen gas-tax revenue shrivel as people drive less and use more efficient cars; they’ve also seen the power-plant cap-and-trade market generate more than $1 billion by auctioning permits to polluters.

“They come to the table interested in models that do something about transportation emissions while still bringing in revenue,” Arroyo said.

The Georgetown report predicted that additional costs for gasoline in the northeast would be more than covered by savings from reductions in fuel consumption and traffic congestion, as well as consumer rebates funded by emissions payments. Benefits to businesses and consumers would reach $72.5 billion over 15 years, the Climate Center projected.

Adding transportation to the trading mix would seem a logical extension of the power-plant market, said Deron Lovaas, a senior policy adviser at the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York.

“There’s already a robust system set up for stationary sources and that could be expanded to include other sources,” Lovaas said in a telephone interview. “What the Northeastern states have announced could be building toward that.”

Source: Drivers May Pay for Next Step in Fight Against Air Pollution – Bloomberg Business

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Coughing much? Hong Kong suffers bigger rise in poisonous ozone pollution than industrial Guangdong 

Posted on January 11, 2016 by Respro® UK Ltd

But environmental campaigners say pollution cannot be solely blamed on mainland sources

Hong Kong has seen a bigger rise in poisonous ozone pollution than industrial Guangdong – but pollutants from the mainland are not solely to blame, environmental campaigners say.

Environmentalists from Clean Air Network have urged the government to take tougher action on air pollutants through transport planning measures.

Campaigners looked at the data on ozone levels from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau air quality monitoring database. Ozone levels recorded at the 13 monitoring stations in Guangdong province saw a 6.1 per cent increase between 2010 and 2014, compared to the 9.2 per cent increase recorded at the three Hong Kong stations, set up in Tsuen Wan, Tap Mun and Tung Chung.

When data from local general air quality monitoring stations was studied, excluding three included in a regional monitoring scheme, the rise in the level of ozone was even greater, at 17.1 per cent.

Between 2006 and 2014, local stations recorded a 27.2 per cent rise in ozone, in contrast to 19.5 per cent in the neighbouring province.

The Environmental Protection Department said more easterly prevailing winds from the mainland explained greater air pollution in eastern parts of the city, but Clean Air Network said local factors still played a role.

Kwun Tong in Kowloon East experienced a drop in the number of hours defined as having experienced serious pollution between 1992 and 2014 despite its largely northeasterly winds.

“The high level of ozone is not solely a regional issue. We can target ozone pollution both locally and regionally,” said Kwong Sum-yin, chief executive officer of the group.

Hong Kong and Guangdong have set up joint emissions reduction targets, which include four pollutants, two of which are the main sources of ozone production. But the group urged authorities to include targets on ozone.

Locally, Kwong said the rise in the number of vehicles on the roads over the past decade had contributed to the deteriorating air pollution in the city. Between 2005 and 2014, the number of trips by vehicles through the three cross-harbour tunnels daily increased from 228,000 to more than 250,000. Meanwhile, nitrogen dioxide, one of the key air pollutants measured at four roadside stations, increased steadily until 2013.

Kwong said people in Hong Kong were still exposed to significant health risks from air pollution.

According to the Hedley index, an indicator developed by the University of Hong Kong’s public health school to show the public health costs and risks from pollution, as many as 2,196 people died prematurely last year due to air pollution. The cost to the public purse of such health problems amounted to HK$27 billion.

“Although there was a slight improvement in air quality, the health of people could not be guaranteed,” she said.

Source: Coughing much? Hong Kong suffers bigger rise in poisonous ozone pollution than industrial Guangdong | South China Morning Post

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