Scottish Air Quality Advisory Group advice note 2, March 2026
Expert advice from the Air Quality Advisory Group on the potential air quality impacts of policies within Scotland’s Climate Change Plan 2026 to 2040.
Which policies are likely to make the biggest impact on air quality?
Based on current knowledge, PM₂.₅ has the greatest human health burden; policies which reduce local concentrations in urban areas, where there is a higher population density, will likely have the greatest direct benefit for human health. Most notably, electrification of transport, encouragement of active travel, reduction in overall vehicle numbers (especially private cars) and decarbonisation of domestic heating especially given that some areas in Scotland still rely on oil for heating. In terms of environmental impacts, efforts that reduce ammonia emissions (largely from agriculture) and NOx emissions (largely from combustion sources) will be most relevant.
It should be borne in mind that individual policies are not implemented in isolation, and there will be complex interactions to take into account, together with differing scales of impact for particular policies. There are also likely to be regional differences in both the practicalities of policy implementation (for example around political make up of local authorities) and impact.