New Defra report fears biomas and CHP could damage air quality

defraMeasures designed to cut carbon emissions could inadvertently undermine efforts to improve air quality unless the government tightens integration between climate change and air pollution policies.

That is the conclusion of a major new report from Defra released this week, which estimates the UK economy would save £24bn by 2050 adopting measures that jointly help prevent carbon emissions and air pollution.

The study, titled Air Pollution: Action in a Changing Climate, acknowledges that many aspects of the government's Low Carbon Transition Plan (LCTP), such as the roll out of electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies, will jointly serve to reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality.

But it warns that improvements in air quality delivered by shifting away from fossil fuels could be initially "outweighed" by an expected increase in the number of companies generating energy onsite through combined heat and power or biomass systems.

"In the shorter term, some measures suggested in the LCTP may slow down improvements in air pollution," the report concludes.
It urges the government to consider air quality impacts when developing climate change policies, arguing that "factoring air quality into decisions about how to reach climate change targets results in policy solutions with even greater benefits to society".

Defra's chief scientific adviser, Bob Watson, said that tighter integration between air pollution and climate change policy would deliver improvements in both areas. "We've seen time and again that dealing with environmental problems in isolation is neither effective nor efficient," he said. "We need a coordinated view which confronts the complexities involved and seeks to maximise the co-benefits of actions."

However, the recommendations contained in the report could deal a blow to government plans for expanded use of biomass, combined heat and power, and biofuels - each of which were highlighted as posing potential threats to air quality.

To read report and Defra press release click here...