Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 strategy: progress report

The Scottish Government with support from Public Health Scotland will assess the evidence on health impacts of low level pollution in countries with levels of ambient air pollution comparable to Scotland.

In March 2023 we commissioned a literature review to assess the health impacts of low level air pollution in countries with levels of ambient air pollution comparable to Scotland.

The evidence report from the literature review was published on 23 October 2023 - Low-level pollution - health impacts: evidence review

The Scottish Government with support from SEPA will promote the aim of the UK Integrating Tools for Air Pollution Assessment project in developing an online air pollution risk assessment tool for air pollution effects on ecosystems.

The APAS (Air Pollution Assessment Service) tool was launched at the end of November 2023.

The Scottish Government with support from SEPA will undertake a further revision of the LAQM policy guidance to take account of developments since the last update in 2016.

Working with SEPA and local authorities, the LAQM policy guidance was revised and published in May 2024, including revisions to sections 1 – 9. A link to the updated guidance can be found here Local Air Quality Management - Policy Guidance.

The Scottish Government with support from SEPA will ensure that all actions taken by the Scottish Government to address air quality maximise the potential for co-benefits with climate change mitigation and adaptation. The 50 recommendations for maximising co-benefits set out in the CAFS Governance Group climate change report will be used to guide this process. We will work with local authorities to ensure that a similar approach is taken at local level.

We have included guidance for local authorities in the updated Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) policy guidance, which published in May 2024. A link to the updated guidance can be found here Local Air Quality Management - Policy Guidance.

SEPA will work with local authorities to ensure that noise action plans are closely aligned with air quality action plans to deliver co-benefits. Guidance will be produced to facilitate this.

We have included guidance for local authorities in the updated Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) policy guidance, which published in May 2024. A link to the updated guidance can be found here Local Air Quality Management - Policy Guidance.

The Scottish Government, in developing policies and programmes to support households and businesses in transitioning to low-carbon heating solutions, will consider the needs of those affected by controls on the supply of the most polluting domestic fuels.

The Scottish Government undertakes impact assessments at the early stages of developing policies. An evidence report to inform the development of a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for regulations to ban the sale of house coal and high sulphur fuels has been published here Impacts of the sale of house coal and the most polluting manufactured solid fuels: report

The Scottish Government will work together with SEPA and the agricultural industry to develop a voluntary code of good agricultural practice for improving air quality in Scotland

The CAFS2 Agriculture and Environment Working Group agreed that measures to reduce emissions to air should be incorporated into the relevant chapters of the PEPFAA code, rather than as standalone guidance. We identified two chapters as being particularly important for air quality, these being manure handling and storage, and inorganic and liquid fertilisers. Both of these chapters have now been updated and published, and can be found here PEPFAA- Code of Good Practice - Farming and Water Scotland.

The Scottish Government will undertake a specific assessment of visible smokes and their health and amenity impacts arising from muirburn. The assessment will consider pollution characteristics and downwind impacts into populated areas, along with appropriate management responses and interventions.

The Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 requires that any muirburn should be unlawful unless carried out under a licence, for limited purposes, with further limitation on muirburn on peatland. Limitations on muirburn for the purposes of environmental sustainability will have co-benefits for air quality. In addition the health impacts of poor air quality are well understood and have been recently reviewed, which supports completion of this action.

The Scottish Government with support from SEPA and NatureScot will review current monitoring of terrestrial ecosystems (and air pollution effects) in Scotland.

NatureScot have worked with SEPA to task the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology with developing a mobile application that will allow rapid assessment of nitrogen deposition in the field. The application offers direct access to Nitrogen Futures data at a local level, thus allowing officers to work with landowners to develop and implement emission reduction measures to protect local sensitive habitats. The Nitrogen App is now available and SEPA are looking to incorporate the app into priority catchment work.

The Scottish Government will encourage uptake of Ecodesign stoves through Ecodesign Ready and other initiatives, along with consideration of how best to address widespread replacement of pre Ecodesign appliances.

The James Hutton Institute report on key behaviours for air quality identified two behaviours relating to domestic solid fuel burning (burn less and burn cleaner (including use of efficient stoves)). On 13 May we held a domestic emissions focused public engagement workshop to discuss incorporating these key behaviours within the public engagement framework which is due to be completed during 2024. This action is now being delivered through the public engagement framework.

Transport Scotland with support from Scottish Government will contribute to research on in-vehicle air quality measurement methodology, the use of recirculation mode for long-distance journeys related to CO₂ and in-vehicle air pollution related to occupational health.

Existing evidence in this area confirms thatin-vehicle air quality is highly influenced by outdoor air quality and driver/passenger behaviour (use of recirculation mode/ opening windows etc). We will utilise existing evidence to support our public engagement on air quality. We will also continue to implement measures that improve outdoor air quality, such as the Low Emissions Zones (LEZs), which will reduce exposure to harmful air pollutants both inside and outside vehicles.

The Scottish Government with support from Public Health Scotland will commission population research on the long term effects of air pollution using cohort methods to aid further understanding of health impacts and explain the apparently different epidemiology in Scotland.

During 2023 we commissioned a comprehensive review to examine the existing evidence on the health effects associated with low-level pollution in countries that have levels of ambient air pollution similar to Scotland.

The scope of the work commissioned also considers the inconclusive evidence from Scotland regarding the association of air pollution with cardiovascular disease, as well as the potential contributing factors to this variation.

The report concludes that evidence from global studies and reviews consistently supports the association between air pollution and various health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease.

The findings from the report are an important contribution to our knowledge of the health impacts of air pollution at concentrations similar to those recorded in Scotland, and together with other commissioned research contribute to our understanding the health impacts of air pollution and deliver the outcomes of this action.

The Scottish Government with support from Public Health Scotland will convene a task group to identify what, if any, actions might best be undertaken at Scottish level to address the issues associated with indoor air pollution.

The UK Air Quality Expert Group delivered a report setting out factors associated with indoor air quality. This research will provide a useful base in future work on indoor air quality.

Public Health Scotland have also updated NHS Inform to raise awareness and provide advice on indoor air quality, the page can be viewed here Indoor air pollution | NHS inform.

SEPA working with local authorities and Transport Scotland will provide updates on the performance of the LEZs and continue to update the LEZ models to reflect changes associated with projects such as Spaces for People fund.

LEZ reporting requirements are set out in LEZ guidance published by Transport Scotland Low Emission Zone Guidance | Transport Scotland.

The Scottish Government with support from SEPA will provide guidance to local authorities on how best to always commission traffic data collection in a way that supports local air quality objectives.

These three actions relate to traffic data collection for use in air quality modelling tools. Such tools are important for air pollution mitigation purposes. SEPA and Transport Scotland have worked with local authorities to support the implementation of LEZs within the four cities. This has included traffic data collection. As part of this work, SEPA has developed minimum requirements for future traffic data collection contracts. This will help ensure that traffic data is collected in a way that it can be used for multiple models including air quality models. The guidance is available on the Improvement Service Spatial Hub.

Transport Scotland with support from SEPA will undertake a review of [road] transport data capture and associated gaps with relevance to air quality.

Transport Scotland with support from SEPA will collect transport data within Air Quality Management Areas and beyond to support air pollution mitigation planning, following the good practice established by SEPA's National Modelling Framework.