空气污染趋势

The line graph illustrates the volumes of air pollutants from three different sources, as well as total emissions, in the UK over the 15-year period from 1990 to 2005, measured in million tonnes.

Overall, total air pollutants in the UK saw a significant decline throughout the period, and industry was consistently the largest source of air pollution, while transport was the only source that saw an increase in emissions.

In detail, total air pollutants dropped from around 7 million tonnes in 1990 to just over 3 million tonnes in 2005. The most dramatic reduction was seen in industrial emissions, which fell from 5.5 million tonnes to exactly 2 million tonnes, despite remaining the biggest polluter across the whole period. By contrast, emissions from transport rose marginally from roughly 0.8 million tonnes in 1990 to a peak of 1 million tonnes in 2002, before stabilising at that level until 2005.

Households were the smallest source of pollution, with emissions decreasing gradually from 0.9 million tonnes to a negligible 0.1 million tonnes by the end of the timeframe.