CleanAir programme: Complaint to Commission on London NO2 failings

19 March 2010 | Read the letter

ClientEarth has written to Janez Potocnik, European Commissioner for the Environment, asking the Commission to  bring infringement action against the UK for breaching EU air pollution law.

In particular, the government has failed, by its own admission, to prepare plans and programmes to tackle nitrogen dioxide pollution in London.

Legal limits for nitrogen dioxide came into force on 1 January 2010, and have already been breached by a huge margin. The requirement to prepare plans and programmes was put in place precisely to avoid this happening – so the current breaches, which risk human health and could result in an EU fine, can be traced back to the government's failure to plan.