{"id":680026,"date":"2025-07-15T13:00:28","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T10:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/uk-air-quality-has-improved-since-2015-but-targets-are-still-being-missed\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T13:00:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T10:00:28","slug":"uk-air-quality-has-improved-since-2015-but-targets-are-still-being-missed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/uk-air-quality-has-improved-since-2015-but-targets-are-still-being-missed\/","title":{"rendered":"UK air quality has improved since 2015, but targets are still being missed"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a414fd82471d\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a414fd82471d\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/uk-air-quality-has-improved-since-2015-but-targets-are-still-being-missed\/#Different_approaches_are_needed_to_cut_pollution\" >Different approaches are needed to cut pollution<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-gallery lightGallery\">\n<div data-thumb=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/tmb\/2023\/london-1.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/hires\/2023\/london-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Credit: Unsplash\/CC0 Public Domain\">\n<figure class=\"article-img\">\n            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800a\/2023\/london-1.jpg\" alt=\"London\" title=\"Credit: Unsplash\/CC0 Public Domain\" width=\"800\" height=\"530\"\/><figcaption class=\"text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3\">\n                Credit: Unsplash\/CC0 Public Domain<br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Air pollution across the UK dropped between 2015 and 2024, but dangerous levels are still reached too often, shows new research published in <i>Environmental <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Science<\/a>: Atmospheres<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists from the University of Reading studied pollution at more than 500 monitoring sites around the UK. They looked at three main types of air pollution that harm people&#8217;s health. Two types of pollution improved over the decade. Nitrogen dioxide (NO<sub>2<\/sub>), which is mainly produced by traffic, fell by 35% on average at monitoring sites. Fine particles called PM<sub>2.5<\/sub>, which are small enough to get deep into the lungs, dropped by 30%.<\/p>\n<p>Despite these improvements, pollution still breaks safety limits too often. The average number of days each year when NO<sub>2<\/sub> exceeded World Health Organization targets fell from 136 to 40 days, while for PM<sub>2.5<\/sub> particle exceedances decreased from 60 to 22 days per year.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast to NO<sub>2<\/sub> and PM<sub>2.5<\/sub>, another pollutant, surface ozone (O<sub>3<\/sub>) increased by 17% on average over the decade. The number of days when O<sub>3<\/sub>, which is formed when sunlight interacts with NO<sub>2<\/sub> and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by traffic and industry, exceeded targets doubled from 7 to 14 per year.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. James Weber, lead author at the University of Reading, said, &#8220;The UK has made progress on air quality, but there is still a long way to go. Pollution from traffic is getting better, but we need both local action and international cooperation to improve all types of air pollution. The fact that O<sub>3<\/sub> is getting worse while other pollution improves shows we need to think carefully about how we tackle this problem and not focus on pollutants in isolation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Different_approaches_are_needed_to_cut_pollution\"><\/span>Different approaches are needed to cut pollution<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The research highlights that different pollution types come from different sources. NO<sub>2<\/sub> pollution is mainly driven by local traffic, while PM<sub>2.5<\/sub> particles often blow in from other parts of the UK and continental Europe. Ozone pollution comes from both local and distant sources.<\/p>\n<p>These findings mean different <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roaches are needed to tackle each type of pollution. Cleaner vehicles can help reduce NO<sub>2<\/sub> from traffic, but cutting PM<sub>2.5<\/sub> pollution needs national and international efforts because it can <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel<\/a> long distances across borders from continental Europe. O<sub>3<\/sub> presents a complex challenge as its formation depends on the balance of certain gases in the atmosphere, their interaction with sunlight and temperature.<\/p>\n<p>In particular, as NO<sub>2<\/sub> decreases, O<sub>3<\/sub> will increase in most urban areas unless simultaneous efforts are made to reduce the VOCs which fuel its production, highlighting the need for multi-pollutant policies which span multiple sectors and countries.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-main__more p-4\">\n<p><strong>More information:<\/strong><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUK air quality showed clear improvement from 2015 to 2024 but breaching of targets remains very common, <i>Environmental Science Atmospheres<\/i> (2025). <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-doi=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1039\/d5ea00055f\" target=\"_blank\">DOI: 10.1039\/d5ea00055f<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"d-inline-block text-medium mt-4\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tProvided by<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUniversity of Reading<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"icon_open\" href=\"http:\/\/www.reading.ac.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<use href=\"https:\/\/phys.b-cdn.net\/tmpl\/v6\/img\/svg\/sprite.svg#icon_open\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/svg><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- print only --><\/p>\n<div class=\"d-none d-print-block\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong>Citation<\/strong>:<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUK air quality has improved since 2015, but targets are still being missed (2025, July 15)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tretrieved 15 July 2025<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom https:\/\/phys.org\/<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>\/2025-07-uk-air-quality.html\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script id=\"facebook-jssdk\" async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Science category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2025-07-uk-air-quality.html\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Credit: Unsplash\/CC0 Public Domain Air pollution across the UK dropped between 2015 and 2024, but dangerous levels are still reached too often, shows new research published in Environmental Science: Atmospheres. Scientists from the University of Reading studied pollution at more than 500 monitoring sites around the UK. They looked at three main types of air&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":680027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/hires\/2023\/london-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-680026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sciencee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}