Atmosphere: Towards a proper strategy for tackling Greater Manchester’s air pollution crisis
Article
The levels of air pollution in Greater Manchester are lethal and illegal.
In groundbreaking new analysis, King’s College London (KCL) has estimated that 1.6 million life years will be lost in Greater Manchester in the coming century due to its poisonous air. This is equivalent to each of us having our life expectancy reduced by six months. Using the 2011 baseline, NO2 pollution alone was estimated to have caused up to 1,781 premature deaths in Greater Manchester and particulate matter pollution up to 1,906 premature deaths.
Devolution allows the Greater Manchester mayor to take responsibility for this clean air agenda and do more, much more quickly, but national government must act urgently too to give the mayor the tools necessary to save lives and the £1 billion annual cost to the Greater Manchester economy.
Related items
Pathfinding: The route to competitive green manufacturing in the UK
Transformed by AI: How generative artificial intelligence could affect work in the UK – and how to manage it
Technological change is a good thing. It has brought exponential gains to living standards and is the foundation of modern society. Yet unmanaged technological change has always come with risks and disruptions.Celebrating 20 years of IPPR North
For two decades IPPR North has been at the centre of the debate about how to rebalance England's regions. Here we take stock of how far we have come and the role we have played in shaping the "levelling up" debate.