Air Pollution: Are Clean Air Zones the Answer?
- Date
-
Tue 23 April 2024
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
- Venue
- Online
In partnership with the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures
WHO data shows that 99% of the global population breathes air with high-level pollutants.
Sheffield experiences poor air quality, causing 250-500 deaths per year and disproportionately affecting lower-income neighbourhoods.
A major contributor to this hazardous air quality is traffic-related pollution. Consequently, Sheffield City Council has implemented a Clean Air Zone, which charges commercial vehicles driving in the city centre, to incentivise frequent road users to transition to cleaner alternatives.
We have invited speakers with diverse perspectives to discuss how different groups are affected by the Sheffield Clean Air Zone, and explore the impacts, effectiveness and possible alternatives to the system.
Dr Val Martin is an atmospheric scientist exploring the composition and chemistry of the global atmosphere and the feedbacks with biosphere and climate.
She runs an Air Quality garden at the Sheffield Botanical Gardens and organises outreach events to raise public awareness about urban air pollution and climate change.
She is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow.
Rohit is an environmental public health scientist at the UK Health Security Agency focusing on indoor air quality monitoring within the Radiation, Chemicals and Environmental Hazards Directorate, contributing to the safeguarding of public health across the UK. Previously, he worked as an Air Quality Scientist at AirRated, focusing on indoor air quality and devising solutions to enhance it.
Clean Air Sheffield was founded by Graham Turnbull in 2017. The aims of the group are to monitor air quality in Sheffield, UK and to inform others about sources and health impacts of pollutants.
James is an atmospheric chemist and climate scientist and holds a lectureship in Atmospheric Radiation, Composition and Climate at the University of Reading. His academic background is in modelling the gas phase chemical reactions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) emitted by vegetation and their effect on climate.
Climate
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