On 4 March 2021, the court of justice of the EU (CJEU) has ruled that the UK has "systematically and persistently" broken legal limits on air pollution for a decade.
According to the ruling, the toxic levels of nitrogen dioxide (mainly from diesel vehicles) remain illegally high in 75% of urban areas and the UK Government had failed in its legal duty to find a solution to this problem in the shortest possible time. The scientists analysed that polluted air in the UK is responsible for around 40,000 early deaths every year, and road transport is mainly to blame.
The UK Government has been previously defeated on this issue three times following the lawsuits brought by ClientEarth.
The procedures by CJEU were launched before the UK left the EU, and if the UK still fails to improve the air quality, then European Commission could issue a letter of formal notice which will require the Government to improve the situation. If the UK fails to do so, then the Commission could bring the matter to the CJEU again, seeking to have a financial penalty imposed for the breaches. However, it is uncertain whether such a lawsuit will be successful as CJEU might not have the power or the inclination to do this, as the UK is no longer part of the EU.
The proposed new Office for Environmental Protection should have the power to hold the UK Government accountable for environmental breaches and not implementing policies following the ending of the Brexit transition period, but the new watchdog - first announced in the 2018 Environment Bill - is already being weakened by several amendments to the bill, even before it becomes law.
Lawyer at ClientEarth, Katie Nield, said about the ruling: "It's no secret that successive UK Governments have been leaving us exposed to illegal and harmful levels of air pollution for over a decade now. This ruling comes from a European court, but Brexit or no Brexit, these pollution limits remain in national law. The UK Government is still bound by these rules and our own domestic courts have repeatedly found that ministers have been flouting them ever since they came into force.
"The Government has been dragging its feet for too long on the air pollution crisis, downplaying the problem and passing the buck to local authorities. To tackle harmful nitrogen dioxide pollution quickly, the evidence clearly shows that Clean Air Zones, which are designed to keep the most polluting vehicles out of the most polluted parts of town, are the most effective solution.
"It's up to the UK Government to work with local leaders to make sure these schemes are put in place as quickly as possible, alongside help and support for people and businesses to move to cleaner forms of transport. Whilst authorities dither and delay on action to get the most polluting vehicles out of our towns and cities, people's lives are being ruined by toxic air."
