Exclusive: Experts say impact on people of colour and those who do not drive is ‘grave environmental injustice’
Air pollution in England and Wales has fallen, but the poorest neighbourhoods are still exposed to the most extreme levels of toxins, new analysis has found.
Experts have called this a “grave environmental injustice” as the inequality around who is exposed to air pollution has dramatically grown in the last decade.
Over the last decade, air pollution has fallen by a third, and the number of neighbourhoods that have the worst air quality – with double the levels of either nitrogen dioxide or fine particular matter (PM2.5) recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) – has fallen by 93%.
However, new analysis by Friends of the Earth has found people of colour, those on low incomes and non-drivers are now disproportionately overrepresented in the 5% of neighbourhoods still exposed to the most extreme air pollution. These neighbourhoods tend to be in low-income areas of urban centres such as London or Manchester.
