Air Pollution ’Causes 467,000 premature deaths a year in Europe’

According to the European Environment Agency’s Air quality in Europe – 2016 report, 467,000 people died prematurely in 2013 due to air pollution. With over 430,000 due to PM2.5 and 71,000 from NO2 (there is certain level of cross over). In the UK, air pollution overall costs the economy more than £20bn per year – just under 16% of the NHS’s annual £116bn budget.

How is it that this isn’t a national scandal?  I’ve long positioned real-time, more granular air quality monitoring (and therefore avoidance and reduction) as a cheap way to save many lives and save significant sums of money, but few in the public sector seem terribly interested.  I guess that when public pressure builds and/or law suits start to get expensive then the powers that be will start to pay attention.  It can’t come soon enough.