A NEW benchmark that would enable investors to assess how companies are tackling urban air pollution has been proposed by Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation and CCLA Investment Management.

A public consultation on the proposal was launched on Tuesday, accompanied by statistics setting out the impact of air pollution on public health. In 2019, the burden of long-term exposure to air pollution in the UK was an effect equivalent to between 29,000 to 43,000 deaths for adults aged 30 and above, the UK Health Security Agency says. The Health Effects Institute reports that air pollution is the second leading global risk factor for death, after high blood pressure, and above tobacco use and poor diet.

CCLA, which began as the Church of England Investment Fund, is now the UK’s largest charity fund manager. It is working in partnership with the south-London health charity Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation. The consultation is part of a ten-year philanthropic programme to tackle poor air quality in large urban areas.

The two partners say that companies in sectors such as energy, construction, and agriculture are “major contributors to air pollution”. The new consultation will initially focus on companies involved in on-road transport.

“The air we breathe matters for all of us,” Matt Lomas, the Foundation’s engagement director, said. “Air quality should be a concern for investors given the impact poor air quality has on people, planet and increasingly businesses as companies’ contributions become more understood.”

Amy Browne, director of stewardship at CCLA, said: “Healthy businesses, and by extension strong investment returns, require healthy communities and a thriving environment. Air pollution threatens both human and planetary health and is a sustainability blind spot for many investors.

“Our aim is to mobilise the investment community into action and to bring down the level of toxic pollution in the air that we breathe, the communities in which we live and in the habitats that produce our food and protect nature’s bounty.”

The press release includes an appeal to self-interest: “Organisations that reduce their air pollution footprint and embrace cleaner technologies could position themselves better for future growth and regulatory changes. Companies that fail to actively address air pollution impacts could increasingly face regulatory penalties, rising costs, shareholder activism, and declining consumer trust.”

Forthcoming regulations include the UK and EU bans on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2035 — a transition that has been urged by the Bishop of Oxford, Dr Steven Croft (News, 25 October).

Earlier this year, Chronos Sustainability was commissioned by the two partners to interview various bodies to explore why investors should be concerned about air pollution and what actions they could take. The Church of England Pensions Board was among them. Among the findings was “a generalised lack of awareness and understanding of corporate air pollution amongst investors and many companies” and “an absence of standardised metrics for measuring and reporting on air pollution across corporate reporting frameworks”.

It is proposed that the new benchmark would cover global listed companies, each of which would be assessed on information that is publicly available.

Last month, the Bishop of St Albans, Dr Alan Smith, asked the Government whether it would consider reinstating funding for the Air Quality Grant Scheme, which provided funding to eligible local authorities to help improve air quality. The previous month he warned that, in some areas, “air quality is so bad that it is materially affecting the health of many young people and causing huge additional costs to the NHS”. A study by the Education Policy Institute published earlier this year reported higher levels of air pollution in more deprived areas.

The launch of the consultation on the benchmark comes in the same week as an announcement that the mother of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, a nine-year-old girl whose death certificate was the first in the UK to cite air pollution, would receive an undisclosed settlement from government. Ella had a fatal asthma attack in 2013. She lived near the South Circular Road in Lewisham.

ccla.co.uk/consultation-proposed-corporate-air-pollution-benchmark