The March 2020-initiated lockdown sparked by the coronavirus outbreak improved the air quality in the UK’s cities as businesses closed and people were ordered to stay at home.  Tiny particle air pollution in cities including London and Birmingham fell by as much as 50% following the implementation of social distancing measures, and about a quarter in Manchester and Belfast – with improvements set to continue as the lockdown remained in place.

Nitrogen oxide pollution – largely produced by vehicles – fell by a third in London and Birmingham and up to 20% elsewhere.

The closure of most businesses and vast swathes of industrial activity has also helped to improve the air quality in cities worldwide.  Because gas power stations, farming and the heating of homes were continuing during lockdown, the biggest contributor to the fall in air pollution was likely to be transport, which was greatly reduced by countries’ virus mitigation measures.

York University’s professor James Lee, who helped to analyse the data with the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, said: “It shows we can actually achieve quite a lot without travelling.  It shows that if we did work from home more in normal times then we would have an effect on air pollution.”

further reading…

The March 2020-initiated lockdown sparked by the coronavirus outbreak improved the air quality in the UK’s cities as businesses closed and people were ordered to stay at home.  Tiny particle air pollution in cities including London and Birmingham fell by as much as 50% following the implementation of social distancing measures, and about a quarter in Manchester and Belfast – with improvements set to continue as the lockdown remained in place.

Nitrogen oxide pollution – largely produced by vehicles – fell by a third in London and Birmingham and up to 20% elsewhere.

The closure of most businesses and vast swathes of industrial activity has also helped to improve the air quality in cities worldwide.  Because gas power stations, farming and the heating of homes were continuing during lockdown, the biggest contributor to the fall in air pollution was likely to be transport, which was greatly reduced by countries’ virus mitigation measures.

York University’s professor James Lee, who helped to analyse the data with the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, said: “It shows we can actually achieve quite a lot without travelling.  It shows that if we did work from home more in normal times then we would have an effect on air pollution.”

further reading…