Abstract for presentation at 14th IUAPPA World Congress

Environmental policies should not be treated in isolation due to the synergistic and antagonistic relationships within the policy arena. Through the Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) process, Local Authorities in the UK have the responsibility to undertake a review and assessment of air quality in their area and to identify where health based objectives are likely to be exceeded. If relevant public exposure exists, an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) is designated. Following this an Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) is developed by the Local Authority, in collaboration with statutory (and non-statutory) stakeholders in order to work towards achieving the air quality objectives through the implementation of relevant actions. A ‘win-win’ action can be defined as one that is likely to result in the reduction of pollutants of importance to air quality and climate change. Conversely some actions will result in a trade-off i.e. where an action may benefit one issue but is detrimental to the other.
To date, 197 Local Authorities (i.e. approximately 46%) have declared one or more AQMAs for different pollutants; predominantly NO₂ and PM₁₀. The sources of these pollutants are commonly found to be transport, industrial and domestic related; the same sources that are primarily responsible for CO₂ emissions in the UK. A range of case-study AQAPs (for various sources) will be considered to investigate the opportunities, barriers and compromises that need to be made in order to effectively and resourcefully co-manage and mitigate CO₂ and LAQM pollutants while ultimately accruing cost effective environmental benefits.