Global Action Plan mobilises MPs to invest in clean air
We brought together cross-party politicians this week to discuss how we can work together to tackle air pollution, ahead of International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies on 7 September.
This year’s International Clean Air Day – organised by the United Nations – calls for increased investment to clean up our air. Alongside Afzal Khan MP, we invited MPs to hear from air quality experts and campaigners and discuss how we can work together to tackle air pollution.
Speakers emphasised the critical need to tackle air pollution and united in calls for the UK government to take action on the issue.
Global Action Plan brought together cross-party politicians to discuss how we can work together to tackle air pollution, ahead of International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies on 7 September. Left to right: Yasmine El-Gabry, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, Afzal Khan MP and Larissa Lockwood
Afzal Khan, Labour MP for Manchester Rusholme opened the event by reminding those present that over 97% of people live in an area that exceeds World Health Organization (WHO) target limits for air pollution, and called for ambitious and quick action. “Air pollution is an issue that disproportionately impact my constituents in Manchester,” he said. “I want to see a Labour Government act on this issue so everyone can live healthier lives.”
Astrid Puentes Riaño, UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, said in a video message ‘Acting together for clean air is an essential opportunity for everyone’. She called on MPs to review recommendations made by the WHO and her predecessor and incorporate these in efforts to tackle the root causes of air pollution. Astrid is preparing a report – likely to be published next year – on clean air, its deeper impact on marginalised communities, and the need for an intersectional approach.
Clean air campaigner Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah - whose nine-year-old daughter Ella was the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as their cause of death – spoke powerfully about the harms caused by air pollution. ‘Unless the government cleans up our air, more children like Ella will continue to die,’ she said. Rosamund called on the new government to make clean air a priority. ‘This is not a party political issue; it is everyone’s human right,’ she said. ‘We need politicians to do their bit.’
Larissa Lockwood, Director of Clean Air at Global Action Plan, referred to new data from the State of Global Health report showing that air pollution has moved ahead of tobacco and poor diet as a risk factor for death. She called for politicians to be ambitious in setting air quality standards by aligning these with WHO target limits, asking ‘Why would you aim for anything less than clean air?’
This Parliamentary event followed our delivery of the very first petition to Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Downing Street last month, calling on the new government to get on board with clean air.