Air pollution reduced in 2020 as a result of the travel and economic restrictions in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, travel patterns and the associated pollutant emissions returned to near pre-COVID-19 levels towards the end of 2020, and continue to be back to pre-pandemic levels, therefore it is expected that 2021’s air quality monitoring will see higher levels of air pollution than in 2020 as these improvements in NO2 levels have not be sustained through 2021.
The significant improvement in air quality during the lockdown period does legally demonstrate that traffic is the primary factor causing exceedance, and that reducing vehicle emissions will lead to improvements in NO2 levels