Clearer skies for London

From London to LA, from Beijing to Budapest, people are breathing dirty air. The Air Quality Life Index found the global average years of life lost per person due to air pollution is more than two, making pollutants an even bigger killer than smoking tobacco¹. And the Government estimates that air pollution causes the equivalent of 28,000-36,000 deaths in Britain every single year².

With its tall buildings, volume of traffic and sheer size, London is especially prone to air pollution, particularly on days when low winds keep pollutants hanging around for longer. 

Dirty air can exacerbate conditions such as asthma. But poor air quality affects more than breathing; pollution contributes to heart disease and lung cancer, can affect the eyes, nose and throat, and may be linked to dementia, low birthweight, and more.

While Covid lockdowns saw pollution fall, thanks largely to fewer vehicles on the roads, these gains were temporary. Car use in London has bounced back to almost where it was before the pandemic, bringing pollution in its wake.

But there are encouraging signs. London transport policies, including expanding the Ultra Low Emission Zone and tightening rules for the Low Emission Zone, could prevent as many as a million hospital admissions by 2050 through lower air pollution⁵.

At our Citigen site, within the City of London's Square Mile, we are adding a new renewable heat element. The £4m project involves digging down 200m to extract underground heat and then using a heat pump to transform it to a usable temperature (around 80°C). Coupled with recycling waste heat from power generation, this will add 4MW of extra capacity - enough to heat 2,300 homes and cut the site's carbon emissions by 50%.

We are also partners in the GreenSCIES (Green Smart Community Integrated Energy Systems) project in Islington, an innovative local energy scheme in London's most densely populated borough. A smart energy network, GreenSCIES will share heating and cooling across buildings, capture waste heat from sources including data centres, office buildings and the public transport network, and help reduce pressure on the grid.

Like sustainable transport, cleaner energy is a major contributor to better air quality. And, coupled with reducing our carbon footprint, it's an innovation that can help us all breathe much more easily. Taking action for the climate has never been more important, and there is much that individual urban dwellers, businesses and city planning departments can do to contribute.