Highlighting the health and social injustice of toxic air with the Fairer and Healthier Air campaign

Key information:

• Partner: Asthma + Lung UK 

• Amount: £471,104 

• Duration: 2 years 

• Programme: Health effects of air pollution 

What are we doing together?

Every year, air pollution contributes to the premature deaths of 43,000 people in the UK. Toxic air has a devastating effect on people’s lungs. It makes conditions like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) worse and can lead to lung cancer. It can even stunt the growth of children’s lungs. And it is those living in lower income areas and from racially minoritised backgrounds whose health is hit the hardest. Policymakers are doing too little to address this injustice.  

We’re building on a previous partnership with Asthma + Lung UK to reframe air pollution as an issue of health and social injustice. This partnership will bring together existing evidence, new data and the voices of those most affected by toxic air to make the case to Government for bold policy action. 

The partnership will have three main phases: 

1. An evidence review focusing on air pollution as a health equity issue. It will evaluate inclusive public policy design and analyse data on the relationship between air pollution and other social determinants of health. For example, people’s finances and the places they live. 
2. Clean air conversations: Groups that are typically under-represented in policymaking and who are most at risk of the harmful effects of air pollution will take part in clean air conversations. Asthma + Lung UK will brief MPs on the co-created policy recommendations coming out of these conversations. 
3. Influencing MPs and policymakers: This will include: 

• targeting new MPs after the 2024 General Election;  

• holding a parliamentary event on the human impact of toxic air; 

• influencing the development of new air quality policies and strategies; and 

• media work to highlight air pollution as a health equity and social justice issue.  

Asthma + Lung UK will share campaign findings via policy reports, online articles and the media. The project’s outputs have the potential to inform national policymaking on air quality.  

Aim of the partnership

Asthma + Lung UK is the leading voice on air pollution and lung health in the UK. We are building on previous successful partnerships (including the Clear the Air campaign and the Healthy Air Coalition) to build an even stronger, more compelling case for policy change.  

Connection to our strategy

Our programme is dedicated to reducing air pollution in a way that has the deepest impact on improving health equity in urban areas. This partnership will advocate for new clean air legislation that directly addresses the health and social injustice of exposure to air pollution.  

The campaign will have an explicit focus on reducing exposure within the groups most likely to be breathing toxic air – racially minoritised people and those living in low-income areas. Reducing the gap in air quality between the most and least polluted areas would help to address the stark differences in health outcomes between different communities.  

This partnership will also have a greater focus on our four priority sources of air pollution. This means what we learn could also influence government decisions on the future of freight, construction, housing and domestic wood burning.