Impact of Low Emission Zones on Air Quality

That the Parliament welcomes the latest figures published by Friends of the Earth Scotland, which it understands revealed that Scotland did not breach legal air pollution limits in 2022 for the first time, excluding the impact of lockdowns in 2020; understands that Friends of the Earth Scotland observed that significant improvements to air quality were most prominent in streets within Low Emission Zones (LEZs), including Glasgow’s Hope Street; considers that the reported figures illustrate the impact that LEZs can have on improving air quality, which it believes indicate that there will be similar outcomes for upcoming LEZs being implemented in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dundee in 2024; understands that air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to public health with an estimated 2,500 premature deaths attributed to air pollution each year in Scotland; recognises the work of local authorities and charities, including Asthma + Lung UK Scotland, British Heart Foundation Scotland, and Friends of the Earth Scotland, in helping to reduce air pollution in Scotland, and, in light of these figures, calls on the Scottish Government to expand the network of LEZs in Scotland to other cities with recorded levels of air pollution, including Perth.