Key information
Request reference number: MGLA070223-9312
Date of response:
Summary of request
Your request
I would like you to send me the evidence and proof of the 4,000 people that die each year of air pollution from vehicles.
Our response
These are the findings of the review produced by the Environmental Research Group at Imperial College London assessing the impact on health of air pollution in London. They followed the latest methodology for calculating health burden of air pollution recommended by the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) – the national expert Committee advising Government on the health effects of air pollution. Their recommendations for quantification are usually used in Government’s cost-benefit analysis of policies to reduce air pollution.
This is also the standard methodological approach followed by Government and other cities in the UK such as Birmingham and Bristol for the assessment of mortality attributable to air pollution.
You can find an explanation here: COMEAP mortality effects of long term exposure to particulate air pollution (publishing.service.gov.uk)
The way deaths were attributed to air pollution in London’s outer boroughs and its geographical distribution are clearly explained within the review produced by the Environmental Research Group at Imperial College London assessing the impact on health of air pollution in London. The data and answers to points 3 and 4 can be found in the Imperial report:
“Using the exploratory new combined method (COMEAP, 2018a) gives an estimate for the 2019 mortality burden in London of 2019 levels of air pollution (represented by anthropogenic PM2.5 and NO2) to be equivalent to 3,600 to 4,100 attributable deaths (or 61,800 to 70,200 life year lost) at typical ages.”
On our website we quoted this:
“the equivalent of between 3,600 to 4,100 deaths were estimated to be attributable to air pollution”: Health burden of air pollution in London | London City Hall