Breathe: Seven Ways to Win a Greener World

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There is also a notable omission from Khan’s chapter headings: good old-fashioned denial. Khan argues that the era of climate denial is over, and that the people who formerly tried to cast doubt on the science have now accepted the consensus and have moved on to delaying climate action. Expanding ULEZ London-wide will save 27,000 tonnes of CO2 in outer London, nearly double that which the central London ULEZ achieved in its first year of operation. Amongst other improvements, the expansion is forecast to make further progress to reduce air pollution, by reducing nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from cars and vans in outer London by 10 and 7 percent respectively, and reducing PM2.5 car exhaust emissions in outer London by nearly 16 per cent, benefitting five million outer London residents. Khan may now be as closely associated with London as previous Labour mayor Ken Livingstone. And, like Livingstone, you sense he’s aware of every pothole and dodgy traffic light. But the city has changed hugely since Livingstone’s time. Although its overall population is rising, the number of people aged 25-39, and most likely to start families, is falling because of housing costs. Most young people simply can’t afford to live in London any more. Inevitably, this will lead to a city famous for its diversity becoming the preserve of a moneyed elite. The first point to make is that on a London scale, climate change in air quality proportionately affects the poorest people more than the wealthy people. So those least likely to own a car suffer the worst consequence of air pollution from those who own the car. The borough in our country with the largest amount of four-wheel drive vehicles is the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. They have one of the highest life expectancies because they drive their vehicles not in their patch but outside their patch. So it's an issue of social justice and racial justice. And so we've got to make it easy for people.

The additional 131 air quality sensors, which are being installed in Sutton, Kingston, Merton and Richmond upon Thames, are being implemented as part of the South London Partnership’s InnOvaTe Project.* But the mayor of London is right to have confidence in his conviction. If Ken Livingstone’s original congestion charge in central London had been put to a referendum the day before it was brought in, it would have lost. Just a year or so later, a plurality of people supported the scheme.The cost of living crisis has obviously made it more difficult for people to be greener because they just can’t afford it… As chair of the human rights organisation Liberty in the early 00s, Khan campaigned against imprisonment without trial, then in 2005, as a new MP, voted against Labour’s proposal to hold terrorism suspects for 90 days without charge. He says his rebellion made an enemy of Tony Blair and stymied his career in the Commons, but he had to hold true to his beliefs. Three years later, however, he was a whip responsible for pushing through 42-day detention without charges. It’s hard to see him doing a similar U-turn on the climate. Scandalised, Khan underwent a political transformation that would see him become one of the most prominent global politicians fighting (and winning) elections on green issues.

Despite significant improvements in London’s air quality between 2016 and 2019, a study by researchers from Imperial College London found that London’s toxic air contributed to the deaths of around 4,000 Londoners in 2019. The greatest number of deaths attributable to air pollution were in outer London boroughs, mainly due to the higher proportion of elderly people in these areas, who are more vulnerable to the impacts of air pollution. But you can’t be precious. We've all read books from politicians, and I love politicians - some of my best friends are politicians, but a lot of it is self-serving and egotistical. So I didn’t want it to be that sort of book - it’s not a political memoir.Air pollution is often more concentrated close to the source of emissions, such as traffic. This means that exposure and its health impacts are not distributed evenly across London: Independent research into the effects of the Mayor’s air quality programme shows that by 2030 the exposure gap between the most and least deprived areas will be reduced by 71 per cent and the exposure gap between areas with the highest and lowest proportion of BAME residents will be reduced by up to 85 per cent. The ULEZ expansion will deliver the most benefit in the areas that currently have the worst pollution. Ella was admitted to hospital 27 times in the following 28 months. Her mother, Rosamund, resuscitated her on more than 20 occasions and she was treated in five hospitals, by numerous specialists. Then on 14 February 2013, she stopped breathing, had a seizure in the ambulance and died in hospital in the early hours of 15 February. She was nine years old. For level access to the Royal Festival Hall from the Queen Elizabeth Hall Slip Road off Belvedere Road, please use the Southbank Centre Square Doors. The JCB Glass Lift is situated at this entrance and will take you to all floors. All floors are accessible from the main foyer on Level 2. If you need further assistance, our Visitor Assistants are here to help you.

New services and improvements, that will see over one million further kilometres added to the bus network, are also planned to support growth areas in a number of other outer London location. This is part of the biggest ever expansion of the bus network in outer London. Examples include: For many years, Sadiq wasn't fully aware of the dangers posed by air pollution, nor its connection with climate change. Then, aged 43, he was unexpectedly diagnosed with adult-onset asthma - brought on by the polluted London air he had been breathing for decades.To help reduce pollution and improve the air that we breathe in Tower Hamlets, we’ve introduced the Breathe Clean campaign to reduce the impact of idling engines, installed seven air quality sensors across the borough, increased the amount of cycling hangers and planted over 740 of our goal of 1,000 trees across the borough.” Councillor Manuel Abellan, Chair of the Environment & Sustainable Transport Committee at Sutton Council, said: “Access to more accurate real time data will provide insights of overall air quality and congestion levels in the borough, and help build clear a picture of the environment and health of our schools and communities. Any sized item can be left in our cloakroom, including fold-away bicycles. We don’t accept non-folding bicycles. Items must be collected on the same day they are stored. From time to time, the cloakroom may not be available. You won’t be able to bring any bags over 40 x 25 x 25cm into the auditorium of the Royal Festival Hall or the Queen Elizabeth Hall, or into the Hayward Gallery, so please leave large bags at home. I’m still waiting for Khan to take a breath. “Listen, Simon, in just two years we managed to reduce the toxicity in a centralised city by almost 50%. I spoke to experts from around the world who say they have never seen a policy so effective in such a short time. When I first became mayor, King’s College said it will take 193 years to make our air within legal limits. Now they’re saying you can do it by 2025. So if you’re fatalistic, don’t be. There is something you can do. Here’s the proof.” The portraits featured in Breathe: 2022 have been developed into large-scale projections, appearing as still and moving images on bridges, buildings, and hoardings across Lewisham

We are committed to improving air quality in Kingston, and we hope that these new measures will encourage more people to travel sustainably, creating a safer, cleaner environment.” Sadiq marks Clean Air Day with hospital visit as focus is on protecting children’s health from air pollution I ask if he still runs. “I did 12k last weekend, 7k a few days ago. Another thing I didn’t realise until the pandemic is that it helped not just my physical fitness but also my mental fitness.” Then the seemingly invincible Khan says something surprising. He tells me he really suffered in the pandemic. “I lost my mojo. I didn’t have clarity of thinking. I wasn’t so sparky. I wasn’t inspiring my team.” Did he see a therapist? “No. I’ve got friends who are doctors. I spoke to Alastair Campbell about it a lot. Alastair was very helpful.” I never used to be particularly “green”. When I was offered a salaried partnership in a law firm, I negotiated a parking space for my Saab convertible on the same street as the office in central London, and later upgraded to a gas-guzzling Land Rover Discovery. Climate change had always seemed very far away – both geographically and temporally. It was a “tomorrow” issue rather than a “today” issue.

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He doesn’t just want to win a third term as mayor, Khan tells me; he’s hoping for six in total. I assume he’s joking, then realise he’s not. It becomes apparent that this is how long he thinks it will take to revive the city. What would he hope to have achieved by the end of a third term? “By then we’ll have had a Labour government for at least three years, so we’re going to see even more progress on fixing the housing crisis, the air quality, and you’ll have started to see the fruits of the reformed police service and fire service, and more jobs created in London.” And at the end of the sixth term? “You’ll see a London that can have our children feeling they have a future rather than being worried about what the future holds.” As he says, he’s always been an optimist. Then, aged 43, he was unexpectedly diagnosed with adult-onset asthma – brought on by the polluted London air he had been breathing for decades. For me, Ella humanised why the environment matters. Her short life forced people to face up to the invisible killer we all breathe every day. Ella shows that the climate emergency is a health crisis, too, and that we cannot wait to take action to clean up our air. An estimated 3.8 million Londoners live in the expanded ULEZ zone and are set to directly benefit from the scheme when it comes into operation in October. Patients and staff at the Royal London - which is home to one of the largest children’s hospitals in the UK and has one of London’s busiest paediatric A&E departments - are also set to benefit as it is situated within the expansion zone. Ella Kissi-Debrah was seven years old when she was diagnosed with asthma. She lived just 25 metres from the congested South Circular Road in Lewisham, South East London.