Clean Air Day 2021: How Can We Protect Children’s Health this Clean Air Day?

By Katie Fawcett
June 2021

I have been passionate about protecting our environment and communities from the impacts of air pollution and climate change for as long as I can remember. Having joined Arup’s air quality team as a graduate nearly six years ago, I have had first-hand experience of the devastating impacts air pollution can have on those most vulnerable in our society. I see children in my town impacted by pollutants every day while walking to school, waiting at bus stops, sitting in traffic jams and learning in polluted indoor environments. This motivates me in my work every day to do all I can to raise awareness of this issue and work with the wider team to develop meaningful solutions.

Why are children most vulnerable to the impacts of air pollution?

This year, Clean Air Day is held on 17th June 2021, with a focus of protecting children’s health from air pollution. Children are most vulnerable to the impacts of air pollution. This is because they breathe more rapidly than adults, which means they inhale more pollutants.

They are closer to the source of vehicle exhausts - one of the main sources of outdoor air pollution. Closer to the ground is also where pollutants from other sources accumulate due to reduced dispersion. Young children are also more susceptible to indoor air pollution sources inside homes such as fuels and technologies for cooking, cleaning, heating and lighting. 

According to the World Health Organisation, exposure to these pollutants impacts neurodevelopment and cognitive ability in developing children. It can also trigger asthma, childhood cancer and cardiovascular disease later in life.  This issue received media attention recently due to the court case on the cause of death of Ella Kissi-Debrah. The coroner made history by ruling that “Ella died of asthma contributed to by exposure to excessive air pollution”.

What can we do to improve air quality exposure for children?

We need to contribute meaningfully to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), by protecting our communities while safeguarding our planet.

The SDGs relevant to air pollution are SDG 3 (good health and wellbeing) and SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities). In order to contribute to these goals, we need to ensure that air quality is a key consideration in all of our projects from the outset to protect both adults and children.

In my experience of undertaking air quality assessments, the key change that can be made is to reduce exposure to traffic emissions in areas where children will be spending their time rather than screening children from emissions using green infrastructure, which evidence has shown only makes a negligible impact.

We should focus our efforts on reducing the source of emissions i.e. reducing the volume of vehicles on the road. This can be achieved by promoting active travel, public transport use and uptake of electric vehicles. This is key to do in areas around schools and nurseries where initiatives such as a walking buses and anti-idling campaigns should be explored. The use of pedestrianised streets near schools is also something to be trialled and implemented where possible.

​It is important to encourage ways to reduce road traffic emissions, by providing electric vehicle charging infrastructure in our towns and cities, along with the provision of safe cycle lanes, cycle parking and bike maintenance facilities to support active travel. These are also things we can action at a personal level.

Indoor air quality is also a large source of air pollutants and therefore we need to carefully consider materials used inside classrooms and homes such as paints and furnishings, and we must ensure appropriate ventilation is provided.

Get Involved

I want to encourage everyone to make a pledge for the coming year to improve air quality and share it on LinkedIn and Instagram using #CleanAirDay. Make sure you tag @ClimateJustCollective in your post so we can see!

To find out how children are impacted by air pollution and what you can do you can find out more on the clean air day website or watch this short Arup Adventures - Air Quality video which I helped to make last year.

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