Why it matters

The quality of our environment is central to our health, wellbeing and ability to thrive. From the cleanliness of our air and water, to the temperatures in which we live and work, to our relationship with nature and the positive effect that has on our mental health.

Harm to the environment comes with significant threats to our economy, society and health. Climate change is at the forefront of these threats, predicted to cause an additional 250,000 deaths globally by 2030 to 2050.

In the UK, air pollution claims 43,000 lives a year and without action, will amount to £18.6 billion in NHS and social care costs by 2035 in England alone. Environmental degradation increases human exposure to pathogens in the environment, leaving us more vulnerable to infections, such as those derived from wildlife, like COVID-19, or from drug-resistant bacteria, like E. coli.

Cutting-edge environmental science, supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), enables governments, businesses and communities to:

identify and tackle these environmental challenges, supporting government priorities to protect health and achieve net zero emissions by 2050

level-up life expectancy and opportunities across the UK

By improving understanding of harm to the environment and human health, NERC science informs policymakers and the public of the need for change and guides effective interventions.

Impact: cutting air pollution

Air pollution is the UK’s biggest environmental public health threat. NERC-funded air pollution research informs policy and action to combat sources of indoor and outdoor air pollutants, by monitoring and measuring trends in key pollutants, and providing detailed analysis and independent advice on causes, impacts and mitigation strategies.

Cutting air pollution benefits human health by reducing respiratory and cardiovascular disease and improving longevity, mental health and wellbeing. These impacts in turn reduce healthcare costs and boost productivity, benefitting the economy. Indeed, meeting UK air pollution targets is predicted to avoid £5.3 billion in population health costs each year by 2030. Reducing air pollution also delivers societal benefits, for example tackling place-based health inequalities, as deprived communities experience higher air pollution levels.

Air pollution policy

The UK’s Clean Air Strategy 2019 prompted policy interventions on:

volatile organic compounds

indoor air pollutants

wood burning

domestic coal

ammonia emissions from farming

new standards for tyres and brakes

Proposals within the strategy are expected to reduce the death toll from exposure to fine particles by 25%, and will help meet UK government legally-binding targets to reduce human exposure to particulate matter (PM2.5) by 35% by 2040, set in the 2021 Environment Act.

Decades of NERC and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)-funded research to measure, model and forecast air pollution supported the delivery of the Clean Air Strategy 2019, with expert communication and partnerships playing a key role. For example, modelling explaining how ammonia emissions from agriculture are damaging to public health, prompted the government to legally commit to reducing ammonia emissions by 16% by 2030, following its inclusion in a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra) Air Quality Expert Group report.

Several universities and institutes across the UK contributed to the research, including the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), and the universities of York, Leicester, and Birmingham.

NERC capital investment has delivered air pollution urban supersites for long-term urban air quality monitoring in Birmingham, London and Manchester.

Clean air zones

Four million people are breathing cleaner air in London, and the UK is set to comply with international legal roadside nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels five years earlier than anticipated, thanks to pioneering traffic control schemes. Schemes that reduce vehicle emissions are critical to protecting health and have already cut cardiovascular disease and road traffic injuries.

London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) has seen a fall in pollution across the city:

-50% in NO2

-41% in PM2.5

-800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2)

Reductions for NO2 are in central London, for PM2.5 are for central and inner London, and CO2 is city-wide.

Clean air zones now successfully operate across the UK. Birmingham’s NO2 levels dropped by 13% within the first six months of operation.

Atmospheric science research measured pollution in UK cities and used predictive modelling to advise policymakers on effective traffic control options, including low emission zones. This informed the Mayor of London’s London Environment Strategy 2018, which led to the ULEZ.