Net-zero policies designed to improve air quality could help generate £7.7 billion in productivity gains for the U.K. by 2050, according to a new analysis.
The report published by Clean Air Fund, with research commissioned from CBI Economics and WSP, highlights the huge health and economic value of cleaner air, which include improved workforce health and longer working lives.
It argues decarbonisation across transport, buildings, industry and power generation will bring substantial air quality gains by 2050.
According to the study, these include 38 million additional working days, equivalent to around 168,000 full-time working years returned to the U.K. economy by that date.
The report also finds that by 2050 almost 2.5 million school days could be gained, with potential wider benefits for educational outcomes and reduced working days lost by parents and carers.1
And London would account for more than 9 million working days gained and more than 44,000 avoided premature deaths.
Nick Smith, Clean Air Fund’s head of the UK portfolio, said in an interview the report shows the transition to net zero will significantly improve air quality, which will deliver substantial health and economic benefits.
Smith added improved air quality is one of the most immediate and tangible benefits of decarbonisation, with the analysis showing that measures would generate almost £8 billion in productivity gains by 2050.
He said this will be achieved through improved workforce health, reduced illness, and longer working lives, as well as significant cost savings to the National Health Service, with almost 500,000 avoided hospital admissions by the same date.
“We know there are productivity and health challenges in the UK, so hopefully these numbers will drive home the fact clean air is not just a nice thing to have – it can be a core driver of economic growth as well,” he told me.
Smith added recent figures published by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, which revealed air pollution-related deaths in London have fallen by around 40% since 2019, showing what strong leadership and commitment around the issue can achieve.
“We are really starting to see the benefits of the mayor’s policies, which are flowing through into real health outcomes for people, and will drive economic activity as well,” added Smith.
He added this Sunday (5 July) will also see the 70th anniversary of the UK’s first Clean Air Act, which was driven by the Great Smog of 1952 in London.
“There is still room for us to revisit standards and regulations around air pollution,” said Smith.
“I think it’s an important moment to take stock, ensure that we do not fall behind the EU, and consider how we can also benefit from improved air quality going forward.”
Ben Pearce, the head of the health effects of air pollution programme at Impact on Urban Health, said cleaner air should be seen as a health policy as much as a climate one, in an email.
Pearce added the Clean Air Fund report shows that bold action on air quality can bring real benefits for people’s health and the economy, but those gains need to reach the communities most exposed to toxic air.
Guy Hitchcock, technical director for air quality at WSP, said the research demonstrates that the same actions needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can also deliver cleaner air, better health outcomes and significant economic value, in a statement.
Hitchcock added the findings reinforce the importance of taking an integrated approach to decarbonisation, recognising that investment in the transition can generate benefits that are felt by communities long before 2050.
The report comes as doctors, clinicians and health campaigners in the Healthy Air Coalition call for a new Clean Air Act to be introduced in the U.K, which would include new World Health Organization-aligned pollution targets and measures to tackle the modern air pollution sources.
Coalition chair and senior NHS paediatrician, Dr. Camilla Kingdon, said a new Clean Air Act is not a “niche environmental demand” but “what our communities deserve” in a statement.
