Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 strategy: progress report

3. Summary of progress

Over the past few decades levels of the main air pollutants have declined significantly. Between 2005 and 2021(the latest year for which figures are available), nitrogen oxide emissions have decreased by 60%, fine particulate matter by 41% and sulphur dioxide by 92%.

This year is the second consecutive year that objectives for all pollutants at all automatic monitoring sites have been met outside of pandemic lockdown periods. In addition the number of Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) in Scotland is reducing from 43 to 28, and a further 15 revocations are scheduled for 2024.

A wide range of actions have been delivered over the past year, working closely with stakeholders, and progress is continuing on the remaining actions. A summary of some of the achievements over the past year is outlined below.

Public Engagement

Much of the focus has been on taking steps to inform development of the Public Engagement Framework for air quality, which is a key action in CAFS2.

Building on the publication of the public engagement survey in June 2023, which explores public perceptions of air quality in Scotland, we commissioned the James Hutton Institute to review evidence around the key actions people can take to help improve air quality in Scotland.

The Key Behaviours Report identifies six key behaviours that individuals can take for air quality improvement. From thinking about how we get around whether that's walking, wheeling or cycling for short journeys or using public transport instead of driving, looking at opportunities to work flexibly or from home and looking at how we heat our homes. A link to the report can be found here.

This work will form the basis of the public engagement framework for air quality in Scotland.

Health Research

The publication of health research has been a key achievement since the last Progress Report. The report improves our understanding of health impacts caused by air pollution which in turn will inform policy development. The report was published in October 2023, and can be found here.

Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) Policy Guidance

The LAQM policy guidance sets out the statutory background and the legislative framework within which local authorities have to work. In collaboration with SEPA and local authorities we have updated the guidance to incorporate the Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) recommendations to strengthen the LAQM regime, and fully updated information on air quality-related policy areas such as transport and planning. The updated guidance was published in May 2024 and can be found here.

Ammonia

Emissions of ammonia are harmful for our natural environment and a key deliverable in reducing these emissions from agriculture is the update of the Prevention of Environmental Pollution from Agricultural Activity (PEPFAA) of code. Relevant chapters have been updated to incorporate measures to reduce emissions to air and have been published on the Farming and Water Scotland website.

In addition, Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) is developing tools to encourage farmers, land managers and decision makers to reduce ammonia emissions from livestock and land use practices. The tool will now be tested on a number of SRUC's research farms to aid further refinement and assess on farm trade-offs in ammonia and greenhouse gas emissions.