Proposed air pollution limit in England is twice as high as WHO recommends – theguardian.com
Fiona Harvey
The government has proposed to set air quality limits that would allow twice as much small-particle pollution in England as the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends as an upper limit, and that would not be met for almost 20 years.
The new target is to reduce levels of fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, to 10 micrograms per cubic metre by 2040, in contrast to WHO guidelines, updated last September, that say concentrations of PM2.5 should not exceed 5 micrograms per cubic metre on average over a year.
The government said the proposal would reduce exposure to fine particulates – the air pollutant most harmful to human health – by more than a third compared with 2018 levels in England. However, campaigners said the measure was inadequate and would continue to leave millions of people exposed to dangerously dirty air.
