Matthew Pencharz looks at the evolving battle to improve Air Quality Urban air quality has become the “new tobacco” – so said the World Health Organisation’s director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and that simply breathing is killing the equivalent of 7 million people a year. The World Bank... read more →
Nov
06
Jun
14
Just a few years ago diesel cars were being marketed as clean and as an important part in the fight against climate change. This advert was for a diesel Audi – a VW Group subsidiary – and we all know happened a few year later. This week a report by... read more →
Feb
22
At the turn of the last century the great world metropolises were, figuratively, drowning in horse manure. In London alone, there were 11,000 hansom cabs on the streets and several thousand horse drawn buses, each needing 12 horses. Just to transport people around the city there were 50,000 horses and... read more →
Feb
13
Last week marked 100 years since some women were, at last, given the right to vote in UK elections. We remark how much economic, social and technical change there’s been in the last few years – let alone over decades and a century. But some things haven’t changed so much... read more →
Feb
01
We haven’t yet reached the end of the first month of 2018 yet the capital has reached the legal limit for levels of NO2 for all of 2018, ironically in the same week that the Mayor of London announced he will be issuing alerts to schools during periods of high... read more →
Jan
23
On a weekly or even daily basis there are new reports on “dirty diesel”, how it has exacerbated poor urban air quality, the gaming of emissions testing and VW’s fraudulent behaviour. We read how local authorities, following London’s lead, are likely to bring in charging Clean Air Zones, which will... read more →