Public Transport: Air Pollution

(asked on 15th June 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the proportion of (a) particulate matter air pollution and (b) nitrogen dioxide air pollution emitted by buses as a proportion of total surface transport in (a) England and (b) the UK is attributed to buses.


Answered by
Trudy Harrison Portrait
Trudy Harrison
This question was answered on 20th June 2022

The UK’s National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) is compiled annually to report emissions by pollutant and source sector. The latest data available at Devolved Administration level is for 2019 and is publicly available at: https://naei.beis.gov.uk/reports/reports?report_id=1030.

Data from the NAEI for 2019 shows that in the UK 1.1% of total nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions were attributable to buses and 2.4% from public transport. In England 1.2% and 2.7% of total NOx emissions were buses and public transport respectively.

For particulate matter less than 10 micron (PM10), data from the NAEI for 2019 shows that in the UK 0.3% of total PM10 emissions were attributable to buses and 0.5% to public transport. In England these are 0.3% and 0.5% of total PM10 emissions respectively.

For particulate matter less than 2.5 micron (PM2.5), 0.3% of total PM2.5 emissions were from buses and 0.5% from public transport in 2019. In England buses and public transport contributed 0.3% and 0.6% of total PM2.5 emissions respectively.

Figures provided above for public transport include buses and rail only. Figures for buses include both buses and coaches. Figures for rail has excluded rail freight.

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