Thursday 26 January 2017

ClientEarth granted £100k to battle London’s air pollution

Environmental law firm ClientEarth has been awarded a £100,000 grant to expand its work on improving air quality in London.

It will fund a new project working with businesses to ensure they are informed about the effects of air pollution and what can be done to tackle it.

The environmental lawyers will seek to build business support for the policies needed to clean up the capital's toxic air.

London is said to have some of the worst air quality in the UK and some of the most polluted streets in Europe, with the city breaching legal limits for the whole year just five days into 2017.

In many parts of the capital, legal limits designed to protect people’s health are not being met.

The funding is being provided by the City of London Corporation’s City Bridge Trust.

It has been working with businesses on air quality through its City Air Programme and last year banned the purchase of diesel vehicles for its own fleet of 300 vehicles.

ClientEarth spokesperson Simon Alcock said: “This is the perfect time to be engaging business following our court case victory and the announcements made by the Mayor of London.

“The solutions to solving our clean air crisis should benefit business and consumers. It will help protect the health of employees and make London a more desirable place to work and live. It will also create economic opportunities for businesses that develop the new products and services we will need to clean up London’s air. We want to build business support for this shift and to help make London a world leader in sustainable urban transport and clean technologies.”

London businesses are to trial Ford's new plug-in hybrid vans this year as part of a project designed to help improve air quality.