One of the United Nation’s global goals is to establish sustainable communities and cities capable of protecting their citizens from high levels of air pollution. However, with premature deaths throughout Europe numbering hundreds of thousands year after year, achieving the UN goal has become quite a problem.
In 2020, a comprehensive study conducted by Dutch consultancy firm CE Delft revealed that across Europe, London’s healthcare costs are the highest. The study focused on 2018 demographic data in addition to World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations. Around 130 million residents from various cities were involved in the research.
According to findings, the residents collectively spend over £150 billion every year, with the average cost per city identified at £349 million. Published by the European Public Health Alliance, the study also showed that deaths linked to air pollution make up around 76% of the total costs, while the remaining percentage is shared by other diseases. Researchers believe that their numbers are an underestimation since some cities often underreport their air pollution levels.
What Does Air Pollution Have To Do With Health Care Costs?
When COVID-19 hit the world back in 2020, countries and governments around the world were forced to shut down. Everyone was forced to stay at home and businesses and offices closed. One of our biggest lessons from that bleak and scary experience is to never take for granted both economic and physical health.
Imagine this scenario: someone in your office gets sick and has to stay home, so that person loses hours (or days) of important work. So, aside from thinking about their health, they also have to think about the cost of staying home or in the hospital until they get better. If everyone in the office gets ill, losing your business (or thousands of profit) is a big possibility. If your business crumbles, you and everyone working with you can suffer from severe health impacts.
Now, imagine the entire City of London steeped in toxic air. Everywhere you go, you’ll encounter people coughing, sneezing, and getting ill. They won’t be able to work, so productivity is affected. Worst of all, everyone will be stretching their health care benefits to the limit. Whichever way you look, it’s not a good scenario – and this can happen to London if the problem of air pollution persists.
London And Europe Statistics
Through data gathered from the WHO and the European Union’s statistical office, the CE Delft study found out that London’s social cost totalled £10.3 billion. This is more than twice the levels in other European cities – Berlin’s (Germany) was at £4.75 billion and Bucharest’s (Romania) total was at £5.75 billion.
Researchers focused on health costs resulting from nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone, and particulate matter (PM). Around 432 cities found in approximately 30 countries were involved in the study. Residents lost an estimated £151 billion per year or an average of £349 million for every city.
As such, residents of European cities each spend an average of £1,160 every year while London residents each shell out an average of £1,175 per year for air pollution-related health care.
The EEA or European Environment Agency has identified air pollution as the number one cause of premature deaths across Europe, with the numbers estimated at 400,000 per year.
A 2020 State of Global Air report also indicated that almost 500,000 infants died during their first month of life, and their early deaths were due to air pollution.
Diesel Vehicles
Once considered the safer alternative, diesel vehicles are now known as the primary contributors to air pollution.
In September 2015, German carmaker the Volkswagen Group got implicated in a diesel emissions cheating scandal. Authorities allegedly found illegal defeat devices in Audi and VW diesel vehicles sold in the US. The California Air Resources Board and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) ordered the carmaker to recall all affected vehicles. VW also paid fines, fees, and compensations – the total cost of which has ballooned to billions as they continue dealing with payoffs at present.
Other vehicle manufacturers possibly guilty of using defeat devices include Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and UK brand Vauxhall.
Defeat Devices
The defeat device allegedly found in VW diesel vehicles senses when a vehicle undergoes regulatory testing. Once this happens, the device, just for the entirety of the test, lowers emissions levels to within the WHO-mandated levels. Thus, the vehicle passes the emissions test and is declared environmentally safe for driving.
However, the vehicle is clean and safe only during testing conditions. Once it is brought out and driven on real-world roads, the vehicle goes back to releasing voluminous amounts of NOx or nitrogen oxides.
NOx has NO2 and nitric oxide and caused adverse environmental and health impacts, including damage to vegetation, dementia, asthma, and other respiratory ailments. Life-threatening impacts include cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and early death.
Authorities hold carmakers responsible for the dangers and inconveniences that affected car owners’ experience.
Filing My Diesel Claim
The ideal thing to do is to file a diesel claim against your manufacturer. If you are successful, you can receive compensation amounting to thousands. First, however, you need to verify your eligibility to claim.
It’s easy; just visit Emissions.co.uk and get all the information you need. Once you’re verified, you can start working on your emission claim with the guidance of an emissions expert.