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This year’s Clean Air Day campaign highlights that cars and vans are the biggest source of toxic chemicals in our air and encourages people to use their voices to call on the next government to clean it up.

According to official data, cars and vans are the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions¹ and some types of air pollution in the UK², harming both our health and the planet.

Recent evidence suggests that if more of us were able to walk, wheel, cycle or use reliable public transport, it would make the air cleaner for us all and help to protect our health and the planet:

• If everyone switched just one car journey a month for a bus trip, there would be a billion fewer car journeys each year.³
• If 50% of short journeys in towns and cities were walked or cycled, we could save enough carbon to power every home in Manchester, Bristol or Liverpool with electricity.⁴
• Taking the train also produces nearly 80% less carbon emissions than driving, helping to protect the environment.⁷

Global Action Plan – the environmental charity behind Clean Air Day, the UK’s largest public engagement campaign on air pollution – is urging the public to use their voices to call on the next government to:

• Make walking, wheeling, and cycling safer
• Ensure that everyone can access reliable, affordable, and efficient public transport.

You can get involved on Clean Air Day (20 June 2024) by signing and sharing Global Action Plan’s petition and learning more about air pollution on the Clean Air Hub.

Tessa Bartholomew-Good, Head of Campaigns – Clean Air Programmes at Global Action Plan said:

“Air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to your health, no matter who you are or where you live. It can harm every organ in your body, causing heart and lung disease, dementia, and strokes. But the good news is that the solutions to our air pollution problem already exist.

“Whether you are 8 or 80, everyone should have the option to travel in ways that are better for our health and the planet. We need our next government to take urgent action so that everyone in the UK can breathe cleaner air, by making walking, wheeling, and cycling safer, and ensuring that we can all access reliable, affordable, and efficient public transport. This Clean Air Day, join people across the country in calling on the next government to clean up our air – together we can make every day a Clean Air Day.”

Paul McDonald, Chief Campaigns Officer at Health Equals, the campaigning coalition working in partnership with Global Action Plan on Clean Air Day, added:

“Our health is shaped by the world around us: where we live, work and play; so, when people live in areas with high air pollution, or don’t have access to reliable and affordable public transport, it means that they are more likely to have poorer health. Concerningly, there are around 6.7 million children living in areas of the UK where air pollution has breached legal limits. But we know that change is possible, which is why we are proud to be working in partnership with Global Action Plan to deliver Clean Air Day and call on politicians to act now to clean up our air and stop lives from being cut short.”

[ENDS]

Editor’s Note:

Global Action Plan mobilises people and organisations to take action on the systems that harm us and our planet. We are an environmental charity focused on issues where the connection between the health of people and our planet is most tangible. Our current focus issues are air pollution, big tech, and the education system.

Health Equals is a coalition made up of 27 member organisations including charities, think tanks and industry organisations. We are campaigning for action to create a society where each of us has our best chance of good health, no matter who we are or where we are born, work and live.

Clean Air Day was launched by Global Action Plan in 2017 and has since grown into the UK’s largest air pollution campaign, supported by councils, campaigners and organisations that want to improve public understanding of the issue of air pollution and inspire action. As a result of Clean Air Day, 91% of people in the UK think air pollution should be a priority, an increase of 20%. 68% of people now choose to walk or cycle instead of using a car for short journeys – an increase of 26%. Clean Air Day will be back on Thursday 20 June 2024 to empower even more individuals and organisations to take action to deliver cleaner air for everyone in the UK.

1. Department for Transport, Official Statistics: Transport and environment statistics 2023 (2023);
2. Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, National statistics: Emissions of air pollutants in the UK – Nitrogen oxides (NOx) (2024)
3. CPT, Facts about the bus industry (2022)
4. 50% of short urban trips in England walked, wheeled or cycled by 2030 would avoid 107,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 equivalent) (Sustrans briefing note, Investment in walking and cycling 2025-2030 (2024)), which would power more than 244,000 houses with electricity for one year^5,6 – greater than the number of dwellings in Manchester, Bristol or Liverpool (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, 2022)
5. Ofgem, Average gas and electricity usage
6. Carbon Brief, UK electricity from fossil fuels drops to lowest level since 1957
7. Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors (2023)