photo: Leo Reynolds

ClientEarth’s work focuses on ensuring that the UK government and the Mayor London to comply with legal limits for two pollutants:

We are also working to ensure that disruption caused by the Olympics doesn’t make London’s air quality even worse.

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

The UK government plans to apply for a time extension to comply with the limits for NO2, but to do so it must submit a plan to the European Commission, in September 2011, that demonstrates how compliance will be achieved by the extended deadline of 1 Jan 2015.
 
But the plans that were published for London and the rest of the UK on 9 June 2011 did not even try to achieve compliance by 2015 – admitting that the limits would continue to be broken in London until 2025! ClientEarth will oppose the time extension unless the UK comes up with credible plans to bring the UK’s air quality within legal limits by 2015 at the latest.

Press release: Commission cannot lawfully grant UK NO2 solution

Read a Complaint to the European Commission on London’s NO2 failings

Particulate matter (PM10)

Legal limits for PM10 have been breached every year in the UK since they came into force, and this appalling track record looks set to continue in 2011. We have already had 40 ‘bad air days’ in London this year, breaching the annual legal limit of 35 days within the first six months of the year.

Read our press release

ClientEarth’s work has meant that an extra £5 million of government money was found for cleaning up London’s air. We opposed the UK government’s application for a time extension to comply with limits for PM10 in London. This led to the European Commission rejecting the first time extension notification (TEN) and approving the resubmitted application only on the condition that further measures were taken to tackle the problem in the short term.

This led to the Mayor of London being given a £5 million “Clean Air Fund” which is being used for dust suppression and retrofitting buses on London’s most polluted roads. While we welcome these measures, we aren’t convinced they  will be sufficient to prevent further breaches of the air quality limits. We are now calling for the government to hold a public consultation on the amendment of the air quality plan, as required by law, so that the public is given a voice on the government’s plans.

Letter to the European Commission: UK government ignoring guidance on complying with air pollution limits (PM10) – March 2011

Letter to the European Commission warning them that the UK government is misleading them over London’s air quality data – January 2011

Letter to the European Commission opposing the UK’s revised PM10 time extension notification – June 2010

Letter to the European Commission outlining how the Mayor’s draft air quality strategy further undermines the government’s application for a time extension for complying with PM10 limits – October 2009.

The Olympics

You can read our response to the consultation on the “strategic environmental assessment” of the Olympic Transport Plan here.

Read these articles on The Guardian and the BBC website featuring ClientEarth lawyer Alan Andrews.

For more information, look at ClientEarth’s press releases and our Health & environment publications page