One English city is crediting a fleet of new electric buses with getting air quality back to legal limits.
The BBC reported the story about Norwich, which in 2023 recorded 38.5 micrograms of nitrogen dioxide in a cubic meter of air. It noted that the legal limit in the United Kingdom and European Union is 20.
According to the publication, those levels fell to 16.5 micrograms per cubic meter during eight of the past 11 months, and city officials attribute this improvement to the introduction of new electric buses.
"These new electric vehicles produce zero tailpipe emissions, which means a cleaner, greener environment for people to live, work and enjoy," Graham Plant, Cabinet member for transport and infrastructure, told the news outlet.
Air pollution is a major problem in cities across the globe. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 4.2 million premature deaths are attributed to outdoor air pollution. The organization adds that higher concentrations of air pollutants increase people's risks for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, cancer, and adverse birth outcomes.
Traffic from vehicles is one of the leading causes of air pollution, and one study linked exposure to high levels of traffic-related air pollution to dementia risks. Another tied it to stunted brain development in children.
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Plus, this pollution is one of the leading contributors to the overheating of our planet. Transportation accounted for 29% of all planet-heating pollution in the United States in 2022, per the Environmental Protection Agency.
Back in Norwich, Piers Marlow, managing director of First Bus East of England, said he is "incredibly proud" of the city's investment in the electric buses and depot.
"These figures are a clear sign that zero-emission transport can play a significant role in creating cleaner, healthier places for people," he told the BBC.
Plant added: "First Bus put their hand in their pocket, they put in several million pounds - more than what the government put in - to make electric work in Norwich. That is really important to understand, it's not just the government paying for this; operators are also part of the answer."
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