Emission Impossible Ltd

In response to this mornings story in the NZ Herald, Climate Change: NZ’s emission impossible, Dr Gerda Kuschel, Emission Impossible Ltd spokesperson on climate change issued a challenge to Climate Change Minister Tim Groser.

“It’s not enough to come up with a good story Minister.  It’s time the New Zealand Government got serious about climate change and started working towards actual reductions”.

The Minister is in Lima taking part in negotiations with 190 countries on a plan to fight global warming and was quoted as saying:

“There’s a lot of work to do but we’ll come up with something and have a good story to tell,” Mr Groser said.  The minister said it was also difficult to set a target because the Lima deal had not established a legal framework for reducing emissions.

Emission Impossible Ltd supports the Green Party of New Zealand Climate Protection Plan (and other common sense economic policies).  This advocates:

1. Establish an independent Climate Commission to provide expert and independent advice to the government on carbon prices, carbon budgets, and complementary measures to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050
2. Phase out the failed Emissions Trading Scheme and instead put a meaningful price on carbon through a charge on polluters
3. Recycle all revenues raised from a carbon charge back to families through a $2,000 income tax-free band a 1 percent company tax cut. Households will be on average $319 better off every year with the Climate Tax Cut
4. Introduce a suite of complementary measures to reduce New Zealand’s emissions and make the transition to a low carbon economy

WHO Indoor Air Quality Guidelines: Household Fuel Combustion, published on 11 November 2014, set for the first time emission targets to address the serious health risks from burning fuels. They also oppose the use of unprocessed coal and kerosene, which severely pollutes indoor air and creates risks of fire, burns and poisoning. Worldwide, nearly 3 billion people still lack access to clean fuels and technology for cooking. In 2012, according to a WHO report, 4.3 million people died prematurely as a result of household air pollution.

While cooking over an open fire is not commonplace in countries in the WHO European Region, the health and climate-damaging effects from burning solid fuels, including wood and other biomass, for domestic heating remain critical issues. Over 117,000 deaths due to household air pollution occurred in this region in 2012.

Guideline recommendations

Meeting new emission targets means that some 90% of homes globally will meet WHO’s air quality guideline values. The guidelines’ recommendations stress the need to improve access to cleaner home energy sources, particularly in low and middle income countries.

Clean, sustainable sources of household fuel have an important role in climate change mitigation especially by reducing substantial carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. WHO recommends that governments and other agencies developing and implementing policy on mitigating climate change consider action on household energy, and make assessments to maximize health and climate gains. In addition, clean technologies and fuels must be affordable by the lowest income households.

Source: World Health Organisation, 2014

When in Melbourne recently, Louise took the opportunity of visiting EML Laboratories to update her nose calibration (last undertaken in, um, 1998…).  Odour sensitivity declines with age so Louise was somewhat relieved to discover that she is well within the 20-90 ppb detection threshold for n-butanol, and can be relied upon to represent an ‘ordinary, reasonable person’ for the purposes of odour management.

Dr Gerda Kuschel also achieved a personal milestone successfully attaining her open water dive certificate in October.

So if you need underwater air quality assistance or have any odours you want investigated – we’re waiting for your call!

From the more depressing news about air quality department, a new OECD report was published today on the health impacts of air pollution.  It calculates that outdoor air pollution kills more than 3.5 million people a year globally, far more than was previously estimated.

Air pollution has now become the biggest environmental cause of premature death, overtaking poor sanitation and a lack of clean drinking water. In most OECD countries, the death toll from heart and lung diseases caused by air pollution is much higher than the one from traffic accidents.

The OECD has estimated that people in its 34 Member countries would be willing to pay USD 1.7 trillion to avoid deaths caused by air pollution. Road transport is likely responsible for about half.

Air pollution in OECD countries has fallen in recent years, helped by tighter emission controls on vehicles, but it has increased in China and India as rapid growth in traffic has outpaced the adoption of tighter emission limits. The switch to more polluting diesel vehicles in many countries threatens to arrest the downward trend in emissions from road transport in OECD countries.

The cost of air pollution: Health impacts of road transport estimates the economic cost of the health impacts of air pollution from road transport – on a global scale, but with special reference to People’s Republic of China, India and the OECD member countries.

It establishes this estimate by multiplying the “value of statistical life” (derived by aggregating individuals’ willingness to pay to secure a small reduction in the risk of premature death) by the number of deaths attributable to outdoor air pollution, as released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2010.

Best of all, the OECD report references previous work by Emission Impossible Ltd for Auckland Council (see page 40).

WHO Press Release

GENEVA: 7 May 2014 – Air quality in most cities worldwide that monitor outdoor (ambient) air pollution fails to meet World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for safe levels, putting people at additional risk of respiratory disease and other health problems.

WHO’s Urban Air Quality database covers 1600 cities across 91 countries – 500 more cities than the previous database (2011), revealing that more cities worldwide are monitoring outdoor air quality, reflecting growing recognition of air pollution’s health risks.

Only 12% of the people living in cities reporting on air quality reside in cities where this complies with WHO Air Quality Guideline levels. About half of the urban population being monitored is exposed to air pollution that is at least 2.5 times higher than the levels WHO recommends – putting those people at additional risk of serious, long-term health problems.

In most cities where there is enough data to compare the situation today with previous years, air pollution is getting worse. Many factors contribute to this increase, including reliance on fossil fuels such as coal fired power plants, dependence on private transport motor vehicles, inefficient use of energy in buildings, and the use of biomass for cooking and heating.

But some cities are making notable improvements – demonstrating that air quality can be improved by implementing policy measures such as banning the use of coal for “space heating” in buildings, using renewable or “clean” fuels for electricity production, and improving efficiency of motor vehicle engines.

The latest available data have prompted WHO to call for greater awareness of health risks caused by air pollution, implementation of effective air pollution mitigation policies; and close monitoring of the situation in cities worldwide.

“Too many urban centres today are so enveloped in dirty air that their skylines are invisible,” said Dr Flavia Bustreo, WHO Assistant Director-General for Family, Children and Women’s Health. “Not surprisingly, this air is dangerous to breathe. So  a growing number of cities and communities worldwide are striving to better meet the needs of their residents – in particular children and the elderly.”

In April 2014, WHO issued new information estimating that outdoor air pollution was responsible for the deaths of some 3.7 million people under the age of 60 in 2012. The Organization also emphasised that indoor and outdoor air pollution combined are among the largest risks to health worldwide.

There are many components of air pollution, both gaseous and solid. But high concentrations of small and fine particulate pollution is particularly associated with high numbers of deaths from heart disease and stroke, as well as respiratory illnesses and cancers.  Measurement of fine particulate matter of 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter (PM2.5) is considered to be the best indicator of the level of health risks from air pollution.

In high-income countries, 816 cities reported on PM2.5 levels with another 544 cities reporting on PM10, from which estimates of PM2.5 can be derived.
In low-and middle income countries, however, annual mean PM2.5 measurements could be accessed in only 70 cities; another 512 cities reported on PM10 measurements.

“We can win the fight against air pollution and reduce the number of people suffering from respiratory and heart disease, as well as lung cancer,” said Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director for Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health. “Effective policies and strategies are well understood, but they need to be implemented at sufficient scale. Cities such as Copenhagen andBogotà, for example, have improved air quality by promoting ‘active transport’ and prioritizing dedicated networks of urban public transport, walking and cycling.”

The report notes that individual cities can take local action to improve air quality and thus go against regional trends. And good air quality can go hand in hand with economic development, as indicated by some major cities in Latin America which meet, or approach, the WHO Air Quality guidelines.

“We cannot buy clean air in a bottle, but cities can adopt measures that will clean the air and save the lives of their people,” said Dr Carlos Dora, Coordinator, Interventions for Healthy Environments, WHO Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health.

Measures include ensuring that houses are energy efficient, that urban development is compact and well served by public transport routes, that street design is appealing and safe for pedestrians and cyclists, and waste is well managed. Such activities not only clean the air but can also serve as a catalyst for local economic development and the promotion of healthy urban lifestyles.

Despite the upswing in air quality monitoring, many cities in low and middle income countries still lack capacity to do so. There is a particular shortage of data in WHO’s Africa and Eastern Mediterranean regions.

The release of today’s data is a significant step in WHO’s ongoing work to advance a roadmap for preventing diseases related to air pollution. This involves the development of a global platform on air quality and health to generate better data on air pollution-related diseases and strengthened support to countries and cities through guidance, information and evidence about the health gains associated with different activities.

2013 is the Year of Air in the European Union!

To support this, the World Health Organisation has prepared a comprehensive review of the science of air pollution to respond to 24 policy questions posed by the EU.

The review is a substantial update of the 2005 WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines, which only incorporated scientific research published before the end of 2004, and is based on a considerable amount of new scientific information.  This new evidence supports the scientific conclusions of the 2005 WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines and indicates that in some cases adverse effects occur at concentrations lower the guidelines [our emphasis added].

Specifically, the review provides significant additional support for previous conclusions regarding causality on the association between particulate matter and mortality and morbidity.  It presents new insights into physiological effects and plausible biological mechanisms linking short and long-term exposure of various pollutants with mortality and morbidity.  It further discusses new health outcomes linked to long-term exposure to PM_2.5.

Overall, the review provides robust scientific arguments for taking decisive actions to improve air quality and to reduce the burden of disease associated with air pollution.

The Ministry of Health commissioned Louise to summarise and present the review to the Health Protection Forum on 13 November 2013 in Wellington.  The Ministry has kindly agreed to make her summary report, which conveniently condenses the 300 page full technical report into an 18 page summary, available to all interested parties here:

2013 WHO Review of evidence on health aspects of air pollution – Emission Impossible Ltd summary doc

PRESS RELEASE N° 221

Lyon/Geneva, 17 October 2013

The specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), announced today that it has classified outdoor air pollution as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1).¹

After thoroughly reviewing the latest available scientific literature, the world’s leading experts convened by the IARC Monographs Programme concluded that there is sufficient evidence that exposure to outdoor air pollution causes lung cancer (Group 1). They also noted a positive association with an increased risk of bladder cancer.

Particulate matter, a major component of outdoor air pollution, was evaluated separately and was also classified as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1). The IARC evaluation showed an increasing risk of lung cancer with increasing levels of exposure to particulate matter and air pollution. Although the composition of air pollution and levels of exposure can vary dramatically between locations, the conclusions of the Working Group apply to all regions of the world.

Full details here: http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/iarcnews/pdf/pr221_E.pdf

¹ Please note that the summary evaluation will be published by The Lancet Oncology online on Thursday 24 October 2013

Five years ago the (then) Environment Protection and Heritage Standing Committee (EPHC) agreed on “the need for a nationally consistent approach to wood heater emissions management”.  Since that time the EPHC has been replaced with the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Standing Council on Environment and Water.  In April this year, the standing council released a Regulation Impact Statement for a proposal to regulate emissions from wood burners for public consultation.  This is a key step in developing Australia’s National Plan for Clean Air which is due to be delivered by the end of 2014.  The final Plan will be similar to New Zealand’s (August 2011) National Air Quality Compliance Strategy for meeting the national PM₁₀ standard.

Stakeholder engagement was undertaken but this consisted of only three meetings nationwide – considerably fewer than what is considered typical in New Zealand.  Despite this, there has been a surprisingly high level of public interest with a number of personal submissions making heartfelt pleas to government to reduce emissions from wood burners.  Having reviewed the document, we made a submission outlining our concerns with the regulation impact statement which we felt could be more compelling.

All submissions can be viewed online here.

But should New Zealand air quality practitioners be feeling smug because our wood burners have been nationally regulated since 2005?  Well, not until we get a PM_2.5 standard we shouldn’t.  At least this is on the cards for Australia whereas we’re still limited to a “monitoring guideline”.

We are delighted to announce a strategic alliance with AirQuality Ltd and Jenny Barclay.  This means that we now offer our clients a fully comprehensive range of air quality services:

• Air quality policy development
• Air pollution health impacts assessment
• Emissions inventories
• Emissions prediction and scenario modelling
• Environmental impacts assessment (enhanced)
• Ambient air quality monitoring (new)
• Dispersion modelling (new)
• Emissions control and reduction strategies
• Air quality management training and development (expanded)

Air Quality Limited (air monitoring)

Based on Auckland’s North Shore, AirQuality Ltd has five employees who specialise in ambient air quality monitoring including particulate measurement and dense network monitoring. Like Emission Impossible Ltd, all AirQuality Ltd staff are engineers and scientists.

Jenny Barclay (air modelling)

Based in Auckland, Jenny Barclay is an atmospheric scientist with 21 years’ experience in computer dispersion modelling.

Dr Gerda Kuschel was interviewed by TV One about the recent study in the Lancet showing that even low level air pollution increases the risk of lung cancer.  As reported in The Conversation:

[The researchers] found that for every increase of five micrograms per cubic metre of PM_2.5 (fine particles that are small enough to travel in the gas exchange between the lungs), the risk of lung cancer rose by 18%. For every increase of 10 micrograms per cubic metre in PM₁₀ pollution (breathable particles that can penetrate into deeper parts of the lung) the risk increased by 22%.

They also noted a stronger link to adenocarcinoma, one of the most common types of cancer found in the lung. It’s also the most common form of cancer found in people aged under 45 and the only one that develops in a substantial number of lung cancer sufferers who don’t smoke.

Dr Kuschel notes in the interview that New Zealand does not yet have a PM_2.5 standard.  More importantly, she was fabulously colour-coordinated wearing company colours.