Executive summary

Air pollution refers to the contamination of the air by gaseous and non-gaseous substances which are harmful to human health and the environment. [...] The three main types of policy interventions to reduce air pollution from the transport sector and domestic burning in the UK over the past decade have included bans, regulations and subsidies. [...] One recent report from Transport for London (TfL) estimated that the scrappage schemes for the 2021 expansion of the ULEZ to inner London supported the removal of 140 tonnes of NOx emissions and 0.5 tonnes of PM2.5 emissions in Greater London. [...] The policy effectively helped to reduce the number of days when concentrations of PM10 exceeded the EU legal limit of 50µg/m³, which declined from 58 days in 2016, to 25 days in 2019 and then to just 20 days in 2020. [...] Although in a 23 Up in the air? different context – to stop outdoor burning to prevent the outbreak of bushfires rather than to stop domestic burning to reduce concentrations of air pollution – these approaches could be used to communicate when the bans are in effect.