Air pollution still costing lives, warns RCP

As the world marks the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies on 7 September, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is calling on the government to take stronger action on air pollution, warning that too little progress has been made since the publication of its landmark 2025 report highlighting the scale of the threat to health.

The RCP’s report A breath of fresh air: responding to the health challenges of modern air pollution, published in 2025, set out the scale of the problem. Air pollution is linked to around 30,000 deaths a year in the UK, with toxic air estimated to shorten the average person’s life by almost two years.

Globally, outdoor and indoor air pollution combined were associated with 8.1 million preventable deaths in 2021, with the vast majority attributable to non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, respiratory illnesses, stroke, cancer and diabetes.

The report highlights that the harm caused by air pollution is not limited to the lungs. Research links long-term exposure to conditions affecting almost every organ system, including the heart, brain, kidneys and liver. Evidence also points to impacts on brain health and dementia risk, childhood development, and even fertility.

Children and unborn babies are especially vulnerable. Worldwide, millions of low birth weight and preterm births each year are linked to exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and researchers found measurable reductions in lung growth among schoolchildren exposed to years of polluted air.

The health burden also falls unevenly. People living in more deprived areas, including many from minoritised ethnic communities, are consistently exposed to higher levels of pollution and are often more vulnerable to its effects, exacerbating existing health inequalities. For example, in 2023, people living in the 20% most deprived areas experienced average PM2.5 concentrations that were 8% higher than those living in the 20% least deprived areas.

The RCP report calls for urgent, coordinated action, including:

• a clear UK pathway toward meeting the WHO’s 2021 global air quality guidelines
• a government-funded, UK-wide public health campaign on the risks of air pollution and how to reduce personal exposure
• greater action to tackle overlooked sources of pollution, including agriculture, wood burning and indoor air quality.

Professor Sir Stephen Holgate CBE, RCP special adviser on air quality and lead author of A breath of fresh air, said:

'Air pollution is one of the biggest threats to the nation’s health, and it affects almost every part of the body. We now know it can impact a baby before it’s even born, accelerate heart disease and stroke, and increase the risk of dementia in later life. This is a public health issue that requires greater attention from the government. 

'Every year, around 30,000 people in the UK die prematurely because of the air they breathe. Behind that number are real families and avoidable loss. While people can take some steps to reduce their exposure, individuals have limited control over the quality of the air around them. That is why air pollution must be treated as a public health crisis and tackled through coordinated government action. Clean air depends on the decisions governments make about transport, energy, farming and housing.

'On Clean Air for Blue Skies Day, our message to government is simple: the evidence has been building for years, and the time for action is now.'

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