{"id":524,"date":"2025-03-11T15:34:33","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T16:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/?p=524"},"modified":"2025-03-11T23:08:04","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T23:08:04","slug":"why-is-the-air-quality-so-bad-in-london-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/11\/why-is-the-air-quality-so-bad-in-london-right-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is the air quality so bad in London right now?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Why\t<\/div>
Transport for London\u2019s air quality map this morning (Picture: TFL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

London<\/a>\u2019s air pollution<\/a> measured at strangely high levels this morning, leaving many to wonder why it has risen so dramatically.<\/a><\/p>\n

Air quality levels<\/a> measured at 7 in the Daily Air Quality Index, meaning dangerous particles remained low down, risking public health. <\/p>\n

This is despite the city\u2019s air pollution levels dramatically improving since the introduction and expansion of of Sadiq Khan<\/a>\u2019s Ultra Low Emission Zone.<\/p>\n

So why was it so high this morning? <\/p>\n

How high is the air pollution in London?<\/h2>\n

The city\u2019s pollution levels were measuring at 7 in the Daily Air Quality Index this morning, with 1 being low and 10 being very high. <\/p>\n

It is based on pollutants being concentrated over a specific time, and measures the risk to health<\/a> alongside this . <\/p>\n

This level naturally alarmed Londoners, as anything reading at 4 or more is considered to be harmful. <\/p>\n

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class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-headline\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder\">\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-related-video-carousel__related-video-placeholder-headline\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\twindow.addEventListener(‘metroVideo:relatedVideosCarouselLoaded’, function(data) {<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tif (typeof(data.detail) === ‘undefined’ || typeof(data.detail.carousel) === ‘undefined’ || typeof(data.detail.carousel.el_) === ‘undefined’) {<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\treturn;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t}<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tvar player = data.detail.carousel.el_;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tvar container = player.closest(‘.metro-video-player’);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tvar placeholder = container.querySelector(‘.metro-video-player__up-next-placeholder’);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tcontainer.removeChild(placeholder);<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tcontainer.classList.add(‘metro-video-player–related-videos-loaded’);<br \/>\n\t\t\t});<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It comes as London\u2019s pollution was declared to be markedly better since the Mayor introduced the Ultra Low Emission Zone. <\/p>\n<p>Eleven boroughs saw reduced emissions, which included falls in nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide and PM2.5 particulates.<\/p>\n<p>And across the city, NO2 concentrations were nearly a third lower than compared with a scenario without any phases of Ulez. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why is London\u2019s air pollution so bad?<\/h2>\n<div class=\"factbox\" data-ico=\"factbox_article\" data-track-module=\"factbox_article\">\n<h2 class=\"factbox-title\">\n\t\t\t\tLatest London news\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<div class=\"factbox-content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/03\/01\/map-shows-traffic-will-banned-camden-high-street-22628312\/\">Map shows where traffic will be banned on Camden High Street<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/03\/01\/inside-london-trauma-clinic-helping-vulnerable-women-survive-22189042\/\">Inside the London trauma clinic helping vulnerable women survive<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/02\/04\/london-getting-a-new-task-force-save-ailing-nightlife-will-22495061\/\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/02\/10\/this-salary-need-buy-a-house-every-london-borough-bleak-22528947\/\"><a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/02\/28\/warning-londoners-tfl-fare-increase-comes-effect-sunday-22644507\/\">Warning to Londoners as TfL fare increase comes into effect on Sunday<\/a><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><strong>To get the latest news from the capital visit Metro’s<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/london\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> London news hub<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Some have feared the air quality, which was worse over London and the rest of the south east of England, was due to the oil tanker explosion. <\/p>\n<p>France was also experiencing high levels near the English Channel and around Lille. <\/p>\n<p>But this is unlikely to be the cause. The general changing <a data-track=\"inline-tag-auto-link_article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/weather\/\">weather<\/a> can cause pollution to be kept lower on the ground, raising the levels. <\/p>\n<p>Imperial College said an \u2018air feed from the near continent\u2019 is bringing in pollution and is dueled by \u2018poor dispersion\u2019 once it arrives in the UK. <\/p>\n<p>Dr Mark Miller, a Reader at the University of Edinburgh, <strong>told Metro<\/strong>: \u2018An increase in wind and rain can help dissipate the particles which are in the air. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018But a change in pressure can hold pollution lower to the ground, raising the levels.\u2019 <\/p>\n<p>Dr Miller said this can have a serious impact on health, as there is \u2018no such thing as safe levels of pollution\u2019. <\/p>\n<p>Those living nearby heavy traffic will be the worst affected, as particles produced from vehicles are \u2018smaller and can enter the blood stream\u2019. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is being done to tackle air pollution?<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"646\" height=\"339\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"article-image wp-image-22709225 lazyload\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" data-src=\"http:\/\/softnary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/image-ae7d.png\">\t<\/div><figcaption>The city\u2019s pollution levels were measuring at 7 in the Daily Air Quality Index this morning, with 1 being low and 10 being very high (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Ultra Low Emission Zone, which now covers all London boroughs, charges drivers running non-compliant vehicles to enter the city. <\/p>\n<p>London is also transitioning to greener transport, including the use of electric buses and more EV charging points for motorists. <\/p>\n<p>Taxis and private hire drivers are also being encouraged to invest in electric vehicles. <\/p>\n<p>The easiest way for Londoners to check the air pollution is with a free report from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.addresspollution.org\/\">addresspollution.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong><strong><strong>Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"mailto:webnews@metro.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>For more stories like this, <\/strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Transport for London\u2019s air quality map this morning (Picture: TFL) London\u2019s air pollution measured at strangely high levels this morning, leaving many to wonder why it has risen so dramatically. Air quality levels measured at 7 in the Daily Air Quality Index, meaning dangerous particles remained low down, risking public health. This is despite the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":529,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524\/revisions\/529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}