CLEAN AIR STRATEGY (2019)

CLEAN AIR STRATEGY is a 2019 publication by the UK government’s DEFRA department setting out its strategy for dealing with all sources of air pollution. The document acknowledges that “exposure to pollution is one the UK’s biggest public health challenges” and pledged to tackle air pollution by setting tough new goals to cut public exposure to PARTICULATE MATTER pollution in particular. Chapter 6 highlights the risk of exposure to pollutants in the home including; fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emitted from the burning of wood and coal in open fires and stoves, sulphur dioxide (SO2) emitted by coal burned in open fires, and non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) emitted from a wide variety of chemicals that are found in carpets, upholstery, paint, cleaning, fragrance, and personal care products. To deal with PM2.5, it proposed legislation to; prohibit the sale of the most polluting fuels; and to restrict the sale of wood-burning stoves so that only the cleanest stoves are available for sale by 2022. The CLEAN AIR STRATEGY complements three other UK government strategies: the INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY (2017), the CLEAN GROWTH STRATEGY (2017), and the 25 YEAR ENVIRONMENTAL PLAN.