The Government’s own figures suggest that the annual cost of pollution to the NHS by 2035 could reach £18.6bn if current air pollution levels persist, but that figure will be dwarfed by the costs attached to climate change.
As Dr Fredi Otto of Imperial College London has said: “The impacts are so much more expensive than anything we would do to mitigate them.”
A visionary government would look at the other benefits of reduced traffic, such as reduced road expenditure, fewer deaths and injuries, more liveable and sociable urban areas, and improved mental and physical health through the active travel that usually accompanies use of public transport (the World Health Organisation warns that on current trends, the UK will have the worst rates of obesity in Europe by 2035).
A ruling by the High Court in July found that the Government’s climate change strategy lacked any explanation or quantification of how it would achieve the emissions target. It ordered the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to present a report providing that clarification to Parliament by April 2023.
Fares reform could play a part in helping to achieve those legally binding targets. ■
■ The writer would like to thank Silviya Barrett, Ian Legg, Alice Ridley, Anthony Smith, Mark Smith and Andy Wakeford for their contributions to this article.
