Air pollution
Research Topic
Language: English
This is a research topic created to provide authors with a place to attach new problem publications.
Research problems linked to this topic
- Better understanding of ecosystem responses to air quality impacts and of restoration trajectories / rates of recovery of impacted systems in response to policy interventions
- What is the role of roadway design and traffic management on local PM2.5 concentrations?
- How can we develop a more detailed understanding of the benefits that modernising UK airspace will bring, including carbon reductions, noise impacts, reduced delays, increased resilience, and increased capacity to allow for growth?
- How can we effectively use nature on our land to help provide the services we need (carbon uptake, flood defence, resilience through biodiversity, clean air and water, recreation for public health and so on) and balance the provision of these services?
- How much ground-level ozone does transport produce from electric vehicle motors, pantographs and other electrical devices which can generate arcs (electrical discharges in air)?
- What are the impacts on nitrogen oxides of using hydrogen in internal combustion engines? Can they be mitigated? Are there any other emissions of concern?
- How should policies be designed and schemes implemented to help the food and farming sector preserve and enhance the natural environment, while meeting other priorities such as the commitment to net zero emissions of greenhouse gases?
- How should mitigation of other greenhouse gases and pollutants be compared to and combined with CO2 mitigation (i.e., what is the balance of action and what are the appropriate metrics to compare them), and what do these mean for the timing of the requirement for net zero emissions?
- What are the most effective and equitable transport related actions that can be taken to reduce emissions of (and exposure to) transport related air pollution (from particulates and NOx) in vulnerable communities, while helping growth, access to jobs and accessibility in more deprived areas?
- How can we most effectively implement nature-based solutions, such as tree planting and peatland restoration, to address climate change, support progress to net zero carbon emission, reduce biodiversity loss and prevent poverty?
- How can we encourage more sustainable travel behaviours?
- Improve quantification of air pollution and noise impacts on ecosystems
- What are the trade-offs between primary resource extraction versus reclamation of resources from waste streams in the context of resource security? How circular can the UK economy become?
- How are the local environmental impacts of aviation evolving through time (e.g., noise and air quality) and how can they best be mitigated?
- What evidence exists to enable the DfT to further enhance its ability to forecast aviation GHG emissions and non-CO2 impacts and model the impact of potential policy action?
- Develop methods to assess personal exposure to air pollution and noise at a range of spatial scales and quantify health impacts and costs
- What are the real-world pollutant emissions of road vehicles, including non-exhaust emissions, and what are the technologies that can be used to reduce them?
- What are the population-level impacts of sublethal pesticide and other chemical exposure in the environment?
- What new environmental techniques should be utilised in the analysis of road schemes that are not currently set out in Transport Analysis Guidance?
- What environmental and logistical improvements, including those related to road freight emissions, urban air quality and congestion, could we expect to see if the planning approval decision making process were more technocratic and gave more weight to wider improvements?
- How can the UK protect and increase its standing stock of organic carbon: trees, peat, soil, and salt marshes? How can these habitats most efficiently be distributed spatially given limited land and other needs (for example urban space, food production, recreation)? How can increases in carbon stocks be achieved while maximising co-benefits such as biodiversity, clean water, and nutrient balance?
- What evidence exists about the role of transport related air pollution (NOx and PM2.5) and social inequality in England, with consideration for social, economic, and geographic factors?
- How can the UK develop measurement of carbon fluxes from different habitats and farming systems which are in different conditions and using different management approaches? This is especially relevant for peatland and coastal habitats
- What are the health impacts from aviation environmental emissions (e.g., noise and air quality)?
- What is the burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the environment and within food systems, and to what extent is this facilitating the development and transmission of AMR between animal and human populations?
- What does the latest evidence show in terms of how best to deliver net zero and also bring health benefits, such as improved air quality? Can better metrics be developed for monetising the health benefits of the move to net zero homes that can be used in business case appraisals?
- Develop innovative and improved abatement technologies for air pollutant emissions and noise generation across all sectors and sources
- Improve our understanding of how behavioural change can help meet air quality and noise/soundscape policy ambitions and improve the evaluation and dissemination of effective policy interventions
- What are the specific health impacts of transport related particulate matter such as that caused by tyre and brake wear? Do different types of particulate pose different risks?
- Understand differential toxicity of particulate components, the importance of non-exhaust sources, relevance of pollutant mixtures, and the biological mechanisms for effects from different sound sources