Air quality
Air pollution has the potential to harm people's health and the environment. Historically, the burning of fossil fuels such as coal for domestic and industrial purposes was the principle reason for poor air quality. However nowadays, traffic emissions are seen as the main contributor to poor air quality due to the emission of a wide variety of pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulates (PM10). These pollutants have an increasingly negative impact on air quality in urban areas.
The Environment Act of 1995 required the UK to produce a national air quality strategy which was adapted in 1997 to address air pollution. This was later replaced by a further strategy in 2000 and, in 2007, a new strategy set out policies to address air pollution between now and 2050. To view the latest strategy, please click here
The freight industry has made massive inroads to reduce vehicle emissions with the introduction of Euro standards which set limits on key pollutants. Today it takes 35 Euro 4 vehicles to emit the same particulates as one Euro 0 vehicle in 1991. European legislation requires new engines introduced from 1 October 2005 or new vehicles first registered from 1 October 2006 to meet the Euro 4 emission standard. Euro 5 will be introduced from 1 October 2008 for new engines and will apply to new vehicles first registered from 1 October 2009. Whilst in December 2007, the European Commission published a proposal for Euro 6 emission standards to become effective from 2013/2014.
To view FTA's briefing note on emission standards, please click here
