Summer traffic is a climate story

Unfortunately for many people the holiday rush is more like a slow chug. As motorists hit the roads over the summer holiday period, brace yourself for long hot traffic queues on major motorways, coastal routes and at the ports.

But congestion isn’t the only problem created by busy roads in hot weather. Traffic is a major source of air pollution, while high temperatures can make some forms of air pollution worse. That means summer traffic can have consequences that extend far beyond a frustrating journey.

Why can air pollution be worse in hot weather?

Hot weather can make air pollution worse, particularly during prolonged periods of high temperatures. Heatwaves can lead to more airborne particles from wind-blown dust and wildfire smoke. According to Dr James Allan, NCAS’s lead scientist for air pollution research, the hot weather also promotes the creation of harmful ‘secondary air pollution’ through faster atmospheric chemical reactions. Pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen (known as NOx) and non-methane volatile organic compounds (VOCs) react with sunlight to form harmful ozone and secondary particulate matter that we also breathe in.

Road transport is the single biggest NOx emitter in the UK responsible for 30% of total emissions, with millions of petrol and diesel cars on the roads on summer trips driving up these secondary pollution levels.

It’s no small thing. While air quality continues to improve at a national level, air pollution is still responsible for tens of thousands of premature deaths in the UK each year. Poor air quality is particularly hazardous to children and yet, as reported by Friends of the Earth, there are over 1,200 schools in neighbourhoods across England are located in areas where nitrogen dioxide or particulate matter (PM2.5) levels, or both, are double the World Health Organisation’s guidelines.

How can we improve air quality locally?

Thankfully, there are a lot of things we can do to remedy poor air quality locally.

Reducing car journeys where possible is one way to help improve local air quality, whether that’s by using public transport, walking or cycling for shorter journeys, or simply travelling less. ‘Staycations’ are seeing a massive resurgence and seasoned staycationers are well aware of the benefits of less stress and more convenience over distance travelled.

Transport isn’t the only way communities can tackle air pollution. Green infrastructure, including parks, woodlands, waterways, green roofs and street trees, can also help improve local air quality while making urban areas cooler during hot weather.

In Hackney, East London, the council identified a need for more green spaces to ensure local people – many of whom are from lower-income families and do not have access to their own garden – can spend time outdoors without suffering the effects of air pollution. Improvements have been made in existing parks, as well as the creation of new greener routes for active travel.

These so-called ‘green infrastructure’ projects can be led by councils, as in Hackney, or community groups. They come in all shapes and sizes, from living green walls (Urban GreenUp in Liverpool) to greener spaces around London Overground stations (Energy Garden) to planting woodlands (West Cheshire Trees For Climate). And if you’d like to hear more about woodland creation specifically, please listen to this Carbon Copy Podcast episode about a couple of ambitious community projects that are making a world of difference.

One of our 25 Big Local Actions is Plant More Trees, which is something people can do together and at almost any scale. In addition to helping keep local areas cooler in the summer, absorbing carbon emissions, supporting more animal life, reducing flood risk and damage, trees also filter the air for pollutants!

Local climate action can help create cleaner air

Whether we’re stuck in traffic on the roads this summer or not, we’re still caught up in the resulting air pollution. Of course, we should try and deal with the traffic issue head on, but it doesn’t stop there. So many kinds of climate and nature projects have a positive impact on air quality. There are over 260 climate action stories shared on Carbon Copy that identify clean air as one of their positive benefits.

Each one is an example of how a local climate action project can be about lots of things and can create wider positive impacts, beyond a reduction in emissions.

Discover more climate stories like these to inspire you at carboncopy.eco/initiatives