A plan to clean up Britain’s toxic air
Pollution shortens Londoners’ lives by between nine and 16 months
GAZING out over London’s chimneys, Liverpool’s docks or Edinburgh’s spires can cloud a tourist’s judgment. Air pollution “plagues” Britain, says one UN official. The capital is particularly nasty, and compares poorly with other European cities (see chart). On some days last month particulate levels in London were higher even than in Beijing. On February 17th the mayor, Sadiq Khan, will launch a £10 ($12) “toxic charge” on the most polluting vehicles—broadly speaking those registered before 2005—to come into force in October.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline "All choked up"
Britain February 11th 2017
- The multi-billion-euro exit charge that could sink Brexit talks
- What the break-up of the British Empire can tell us about Brexit
- The British government plans to sell off part of the student loan book
- Britain’s housing market is broken—but not in the ways that the government thinks
- An American trade deal raises the prospect of more private involvement in British health care
- Britain’s war on seagulls
- A plan to clean up Britain’s toxic air
- Britain’s delusions about the green belt cause untold misery
From the February 11th 2017 edition
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