Understanding people’s attitudes to air pollution

Key info:

• Partner: ClearView Research 
• Amount: £220,000 
• Duration: 18 months 
• Programme: Health effects of air pollution 

What are we doing together?

We’re working with ClearView Research to understand how people feel about the health effects of air pollution in Lambeth and Southwark. We believe that for solutions to the health effects of air pollution to be effective, it’s vital to listen to people who it affects the most.

The project will be carried out in three phases: 

1. ClearView Research will speak to a variety of different people who are most disproportionately affected by air pollution in Lambeth and Southwark. The aim will be to understand how aware people are of air pollution and whether reducing exposure to poor air quality is a priority in people’s day to day lives.
2. ClearView Research will also speak to grassroots organisations throughout Lambeth and Southwark, including those that don’t already have a focus on air pollution. The objective will be to learn how these organisations understand the issue of air pollution, and whether poor air quality is a central part of their agendas.
3. Finally, ClearView Research will go back and speak to residents. The priority for this stage of the research will be to uncover more nuanced insights: What kind of messages resonate among people most disproportionately affected by air pollution? And what barriers do people face when trying to minimise the health effects of air pollution?  

Aim of the partnership

We want to know how we can tailor our interventions to best support those disproportionately affected by air pollution. This builds on previous work with The Social Innovation Project (TSIP) in 2021, A breath of clean air, which was invaluable in shaping our programme of work. 

Now we want to do more. With ClearView Research we will be speaking to more people over a bigger geographical space. In particular, we want to hear from people in Lambeth and Southwark to see whether attitudes towards air pollution have changed since 2021.

Connection to our strategy

Air pollution has devastating effects on people’s health, particularly in urban areas. But the health effects of air pollution aren’t distributed equally. 

We’re focused on addressing the health effects of air pollution for those whose health it affects the most, including children, older people, people with health conditions, those who are from lower income communities, and Black people and people from other minoritised ethnicities. This partnership with ClearView Research will help us to tailor our work to make sure they have maximum benefits for those most affected by air pollution. 

Amplifying the voices of people who are most affected by air pollution is a priority for our programme. As well as affecting the future of our own work, we’ll share insights with other funders and local authorities to ensure air pollution interventions are equitable and, crucially, that they don’t exacerbate other drivers of ill-health.