Scotland sees pollution increase after climate mandate
Pollution in Glasgow, Scotland has risen since low emission zones were imposed in June, a report said Monday.
Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee are restricting certain areas to vehicles which meet certain environmental standards. Drivers of unapproved vehicles who enter these low emission zones (LEZs) are fined £60 ($75.77) per day.
Scotland Transportation Minister Jenny Gilruth hailed the mandates as “a truly significant public health moment for Scotland.”
“Our air quality is generally good - but for too long air pollution has exceeded legal limits for health in our city centres as a consequence of unrestricted vehicle emissions,” Gilruth said. “We have a moral responsibility to act. Air pollution often disproportionally impacts those with the least in our society.”
But recent tests show that air pollution in Glasgow — the only city to so far enforce the LEZ mandate — has risen over the last two months compared to the same period last year, reports the Daily Mail. Nitrogen dioxide levels in June, July and August 2022 were measured at 31 micrograms per cubic meter against 34 micrograms this year.
Over 730,000 vehicles in Scotland are disqualified from entering the LEZs, including more than half of Glasgow's taxi cabs.
Scotland’s government has drawn recent mockery for other climate-related policies which some say are “clumsy” attempts to “fight climate change.”
In a June 13th letter to Tory Member of Scottish Parliament (MSP) Liam Kerr, Scotland’s Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon revealed that since 2000 the Scottish National Party has removed 7,858 hectares of trees. Each hectare contained about 2,000 trees.
“This gives an estimated total of 15.7 million trees which have been felled in order to facilitate windfarm development,” wrote Gougeon, adding that wind farm developers are “expected” to replant the trees.
The LEZ pollution finding comes the week after London Mayor Sadiq Khan expanded the ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) climate mandate to encompass all London residents. The decision has drawn heavy protests, including hunger strikes and refusal to pay fines. Taxpayers have also taken to disabling the ANPR surveillance cameras which Transport for London (TfL), the city’s transportation department, said will be used both for climate and law enforcement.
