London has been tackling the triple challenges of air pollution, climate change and congestion, placing reducing their health and environmental impacts at the centre of Greater London Authority (GLA) decision making. While the Mayor has built a legacy reducing transport and some non-transport emissions, he does not have the powers to tackle all sources of pollution.

London’s latest forecasts show that by 2025 road transport will no longer be the dominant source of nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions, overtaken by industrial and commercial heat and power generation1. Forecasts show that World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines for air pollution concentrations (specifically NO2 and PM2.5) are very unlikely to be achieved anywhere in London by 2030 without further action.

The GLA, Imperial College London’s Environmental Research Group and Global Action Plan are collaborating on a project to get insights and feedback on different approaches to help reduce air pollution in London to meet the WHO air quality guidelines as soon as possible.

The project will focus on the key sources of air pollution for Londoners: home heating, domestic wood burning (such as wood burning stoves), commercial cooking and transport.

The ERG will provide modelling of London’s current air quality and investigate the different possible approaches to reduce pollution in each sector. Global Action Plan is engaging different groups of stakeholders to provide feedback and insights on these approaches. Stakeholders include businesses, local authorities and community organisations and citizens of London.