2018 has seen air quality remain high on the public and political agendas. Wild fires have led to air pollution problems over wide areas, tighter real-world emissions tests have been introduced for cars sold in Europe, cities are introducing new measures to meet EU Limit Values and many European countries have committed to phasing out petrol and diesel cars all together. Within the UK we have had a new assessment of the health effects of NO2, highly relevant to diesel engine emissions, and consultation on a new Clean Air Strategy tackling a broad range sources including traffic, wood burning and agriculture.
Building on the success of this long-running annual event, this conference will present an update on a range of relevant topics. As usual, the presenters will include internationally recognised experts, and there will also be a range of contributed talks and posters, providing a broad and up-to-date survey of the measurement, regulatory and scientific issues affecting air quality.
The conference will again be held in collaboration with Defra's Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG) with sessions based on the group’s recently-published reports, including those on the impacts of vegetation on urban air pollution and on air quality impacts of shale gas extraction. Presentations will also be made on topics that AQEG are currently scoping, including vehicle exhaust emissions and non-road mobile machinery.