Environmental injustice in outdoor air pollution
Environmental injustice in outdoor air pollution
Policy brief
Download the full pdf of the policy brief.
Environmental injustice in outdoor air pollution:
Inequality in exposure and in the impact on health and mortality of exposure to outdoor air pollution in the Brussels Capital Region
MAIN CONCLUSIONS
- Outdoor air pollution is an urgent problem that poses a threat to public health and that involves high costs.
- Knowledge around the health risks of outdoor air pollution and its problematisation is limited and unevenly distributed in the population.
- Socially vulnerable groups are least aware of the health risks of outdoor air pollution, while there are strong indications that they are the largest victims.
- Policy on outdoor air pollution is mainly driven by the need to meet (international) standards; a policy that regards outdoor air pollution as a (social) health determinant would be much more ambitious.
- Pollution measures should focus even more on tackling pollution at source, rather than trying to protect the population once pollution is a reality.
- The problem of outdoor air pollution calls for more co-operation between and within different policy levels.
- Policy should focus on better informing and raising awareness about the health risks of outdoor air pollution.
For more information on the project, visit www.greenandquiet.be