Clean air will require action as well as words

‘Air pollution impacts all of us’ says the government’s new 10 Year Health Plan. This signals a profound shift towards recognising air pollution as a health issue – rather than a purely environmental one – something that we at Global Action Plan have long called for. 

This is why we were so keen to become a member organisation of Health Equals. They, like us, recognise the importance of clean air as a building block of health. Health Equals has supported Clean Air Day for the past 2 years, and is now focusing on air pollution for its current Make Health Equal campaign. 

A public health and social justice issue

To have clean air commitments in the 10-year health plan is a significant campaign win. Air pollution is a public health issue. It is linked to over 700 health conditions at every stage of our lives – from premature birth and effects on organ development in childhood, through to heart and lung disease, diabetes, strokes and dementia in adulthood. The Royal College of Physicians puts the economic cost of air pollution at £27bn each year.

Air pollution is also a social justice issue. While the health impacts of air pollution are felt by everyone, they are not felt equally. People in more deprived areas and from racialised communities are significantly more likely to be exposed to high levels of air pollution. Children, older people and people with existing health conditions are also disproportionately affected by the health harms of air pollution. Yet many people are unaware of the scale of the problem and the severity of the health risks. Our recent polling reveals that only 1 in 3 people (33%) are aware that the air where they live is damaging their health. Less than half (49%) realise it can lead to poor lung development, asthma (49%) or lung cancer (44%).[1]

2 years ago, through Health Equals, we recruited an embedded policy partnership post to work on the solutions to air pollution. The 2024 general election offered a real opportunity to catalyse action on air pollution. Along with some of the diverse membership of Health Equals, and people with experiences of air pollution, we developed policy asks to inform the party manifestos. We were delighted to see the Lib Dems and Greens publicly commit to a new ‘Clean Air Act’ and to air quality targets aligned to WHO guidelines. Labour also committed to these things in an early version of the health mission, and in its National Policy Forum, but regrettably not its final manifesto. 

We utilised the 2024 Clean Air Day campaign to capture public demand for action on air pollution, with a petition calling for the government to make walking, wheeling and cycling safer and ensure that everyone can access reliable, affordable and efficient public transport. This petition was the first to be handed into the new government at Number 10. We have since been pleased to see the government’s focus on bus and rail travel, and investment in active travel. 

Continuing to move towards clean air

Following the general election, we have been working with a group of clean air parliamentary champions to advocate for the policies required to move us towards clean air. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has since committed to review the UK’s air quality targets in the Environmental Improvement Plan. In order to meet the 10-Year Health Plan’s commitment to ‘refresh the government ambition on air quality to protect everyone from the health impacts of air pollution’, these targets need to be aligned with WHO air quality guidelines, especially as the UK is now lagging behind the air quality standards set by the EU. In fact, 90% of us in Britain are breathing toxic air that exceeds WHO guidelines; and 12 million children live in areas with toxic air.[2] The government has also committed to look again at how to cut air pollution from domestic burning and will be consulting on measures later in the year. There is also a revised Air Quality Strategy on the cards for 2026/27. 

These are helpful signals, but air pollution will continue to blight our health if Defra alone is tasked with solving the problem. Access to clean air is a wider determinant of health and there are many sources of air pollution, the majority stemming from burning fossil fuels. We therefore need a cross-departmental approach to tackling air pollution, with the departments responsible for transport, energy and housing involved – alongside Defra and the Department of Health and Social Care. We know the public is supportive of change: our polling shows that 70% of the UK public is concerned about outdoor air pollution; and almost 2 in 3 parents (64%) believe that politicians should take action to reduce air pollution.

Over the duration of the embedded policy partnership post, the UK has moved from seeing clean air as a diminishing environmental priority, to something that’s part of the move from sickness to prevention, and as part of the solution to reducing health inequalities. The intention is stated – we now need the action to follow. 

Global Action Plan is a member of campaigning coalition Health Equals, whose campaign Make Health Equal is highlighting alarming health inequalities. Find out how toxic air, alongside other issues including poor income, unstable jobs and unsafe homes, is contributing to a 16-year gap in life expectancy across the UK at healthequals.org.uk

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[1] Public polling undertaken by Global Action Plan with Opinium, using the Clean Air Public Insight Tracker (CAPIT). Survey conducted between 6 and 10 June 2025, sample 2,000 UK adults aged 18 years and older. Specific question on awareness of whether the air where they live is damaging their health, conducted between 27 June and 1 July 2025.

[2] Health Equals commissioned data from Friends of the Earth, analysing Defra’s modelled background pollution data by neighbourhoods (lower super output areas (LSOAs) in England and Wales; data zones in Scotland) to derive 3-year average pollution concentrations for PM2.5 and NO₂ in 2021–23.