Air pollution in our biggest cities is much worse than most of us have realised. It averages well over twice World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines and legal limits near many of London’s busiest roads. Mayor Johnson has estimated some 4,300 premature deaths in London in 2008 were attributable to long-term exposure to dangerous airborne particles alone.
Clean Air in London’s Mission is to achieve urgently and sustainably full compliance with WHO guidelines for air quality throughout London and elsewhere. It works closely with other campaign groups and a wider network of supporters and volunteers to identify and build understanding of the most important issues and encourage decisive action on them.
Clean Air in London’s immediate priority is to see that air quality laws are enforced rigorously in London and elsewhere. Clean Air in London believes that if we comply fully with relevant laws Britain can show the world how to tackle successfully air quality, climate change and sustainability issues.
Clean Air in London is a not-for-profit organisation funded by donations, sponsors and other supporters. It is not a charity in part because a registered charity is not allowed to have political objectives or take part in political lobbying (other than in a generally educational sense). Clean Air in London may wish to participate in such activities.
Clean Air in London is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales, with company number 7413769 and registered office address Thames House, Mere Park, Dedmere Road, Marlow, Bucks SL7 1PB
Clean Air in London’s Articles
An article by Simon Birkett about the story and vision of ‘Clean Air in London‘ was published in a special edition of ‘environmental SCIENTIST’, the Journal of the Institution of Environmental Sciences, titled ‘Air Quality – should we have achieved more?’ in April 2013
Awards, recognition and roles
Awards
Simon Birkett has been presented with the London 2012 Sustainability Ambassadors Award for his outstanding contribution to achieving a truly sustainable Olympic and Paralympic Games in particular for his focused commitment to tackling air quality, climate change and sustainability issues. Note: no conditions were attached to this award or services provided.
London 2012 Sustainability Ambassadors Award
Campaign for Clean Air in London won the City of London Corporation’s inaugural Sustainable City Award presented for Outstanding Contributions to Enhancing Air Quality 2010/2011 on 3 February 2011
Recognition
Global Opportunity Network interview with Simon Birkett, published in January 2016, focused on the themes of ‘Disruptive determination’ and Taking down walls’.
http://www.globalopportunitynetwork.org/breathing-opportunities/#.Vq8o4Fk63iU
Simon Birkett was interviewed by Air Quality News in its wrap-up on 2015:
http://www.airqualitynews.com/2015/12/24/air-quality-took-a-big-step-forward-in-2015/
Simon Birkett was Creator and Producer of ‘One Atmosphere’ which is a 35 minute film about the lessons he has learned from 10 years of campaigning. It calls for urgent action to reduce local air pollution and greenhouse gases to protect public health and mitigate climate change. The film can be viewed in full or 10 chapters and has had over 100,000 video views on Twitter since its launch in November 2015.
https://vimeopro.com/cleanairlondon/one-atmosphere
Headline Interview on London Live on 26 May 2015 (22 minutes from 21:30 minutes)
http://www.londonlive.co.uk/programmes/the-headline-interview/6a1e4673
Simon Birkett appeared in Chai Jing’s ‘Under the Dome’ (from 9 minutes 30) in March 2015
Simon Birkett was included in the Evening Standard’s list of the Top 1,000 most influential people in London, under the category ‘Eco-warriors’, on 16 October 2014 and 16 September 2015:
Clean Air in London was highlighted by Twitter as one of its success stories globally on 21 March 2014.
https://business.twitter.com/success-stories/clean-air-in-london
See also https://twitter.com/CleanAirLondon.
Simon Birkett was profiled by the Guardian on 22 February 2011. See: ‘Former banker’s pollution fight a breath of fresh air‘
Simon Birkett was chosen as one of six international individuals of the year by the Guardian on 27 December 2010. See: ‘2010 – The environment year in review‘
Simon Birkett was profiled as a Campaign Hero by The Ecologist on 15 November 2010
Roles
Clean Air in London supported the Communique from the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership to join up the climate change and air quality agendas on 2 March 2016.
Simon Birkett became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers’ London Air Quality Taskforce in February 2016
https://www.ice.org.uk/news/engineers-unite-over-london-air-pollution
https://www.ice.org.uk/disciplines-and-resources/growing-cities-and-building-resilience/air-quality
Creator and Producer of the One Atmosphere film about the lessons learned from 10 years of campaigning. It calls for action to reduce local air pollution and greenhouse gases to protect public health and mitigate climate change. Launched in November 2015, the film had had over 100,000 video views on Twitter in the first month. Watch it in full or 10 chapters on Vimeo or Facebook:
https://vimeopro.com/cleanairlondon/one-atmosphere
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjsJRKHxMTfLDeRFsgmxOQeMdZARGdEdg
Simon Birkett became a member of the West End Partnership Amenity Group in July 2015
Simon Birkett was elected as the Chair of the Knightsbridge Neighbourhood Forum on 16 September 2015 with a three year term
https://www.westminster.gov.uk/neighbourhood-forum-applications
Simon Birkett was appointed a member of the External Advisory Board for the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Health Impact of Environmental Hazards on 15 March 2015
http://hieh.hpru.nihr.ac.uk/our-research/research-themes
Simon Birkett was appointed to the United Nations Environmental Programme’s (UNEP’s) High-Level Intergovernmental and Stakeholder Advisory Group (HLG) for GEO-6 on 14 March 2015
http://www.unep.org/geo/pdfs/geo6/GEO-6_ExpertsList.pdf
http://www.unep.org/geo/expert-tor.asp
Simon Birkett was elected a founder member of the Executive Council of the European Chapter of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology and served between February 2013 and summer 2016.
Simon Birkett acted as an Expert on air quality for DG Research of the European Commission and the European Environment Agency in 2012.
Simon Birkett assisted Policy Exchange with its report ‘Something in the Air: The forgotten crisis of Britain’s poor air quality‘ published on 19 July 2012
Simon Birkett has been a Science and Policy Adviser to ClientEarth since July 2009
Simon Birkett has been a member of Environmental Protection UK’s Air Quality Committee since [2009]
Campaign for Clean Air in London was a member of Defra’s Air Quality Forum between January 2008 and February 2012
Sponsors
Camfil Farr in the UK is the first Gold Sponsor of Clean Air in London.
Camfil Farr is also supporting a campaign by Clean Air in London to build public understanding of indoor air quality, initially in London, with advice for people on protecting themselves (adaptation) and reducing pollution for themselves and others (mitigation). Camfil Farr has launched a website called Keep the city out to support this campaign.
Camfil Farr and Clean Air in London agree that clean air is a human right. The sponsorship is based on mutual respect and is backed by an explicit agreement that Clean Air in London can speak without ‘fear or favour’. Camfil Farr has made clear to Clean Air in London its commitment to the banning of smoking in buildings.
As part of this sponsorship Clean Air in London provides a minimum number of days of advisory services to Camfil Farr each year.
Clean Air in London has also provided advisory services to the New West End Company.
Honorary Founder Supporters
Organisations
Environmental Protection UK (formerly the National Society for Clean Air)
London Forum of Amenity and Civic Societies
Leading politicians
Ken Livingstone, Former Mayor of London, Labour
Sian Berry, Green Party candidate for Mayor of London in 2008 and 2016
Baroness Jenny Jones AM, Green Party candidate for Mayor of London in 2012
The Lord Berkeley, Labour
Baroness Ludford, Liberal Democrat
Baroness Kate Parminter, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Rt. Hon. Sir Edward Davey, Liberal Democrat
The Rt. Mark Field MP, Conservative
The Rt. Hon. Sir Malcolm Rifkind QC MP, Conservative
Catherine Bearder MEP, Liberal Democrat
Seb Dance MEP, London, Labour
Jean Lambert MEP, London, Green
Claude Moraes MEP, London, Conservative
Dr Charles Tannock MEP, London, Conservative
Keith Taylor MEP, South East England, Green (2013)
Darren Johnson AM, Deputy Chair of the Environment Committee, London Assembly, Green
Len Duval AM, Leader of the Labour Group, London Assembly
Jennette Arnold AM, Labour, Chair of the London Assembly
Nicky Gavron AM, Labour
Joanne McCartney AM, Labour
Murad Qureshi AM, Chair of the Environment Committee, London Assembly, Labour
Navin Shah, AM, Labour
Baroness Doocey, Liberal Democrat
Stephen Knight AM, Liberal Democrat (2012)
Caroline Pidgeon AM, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group in the London Assembly
Mike Tuffrey, Liberal Democrat
Councillor Paul Braithwaite, Camden, Liberal Democrat
Councillor Tony Devenish, City of Westminster, Conservative
Councillor Quentin Marshall, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Conservative
Councillor Rachael Robathan, City of Westminster, Conservative
Councillor Philippa Roe, Leader, City of Westminster, Conservative
John Tomlinson, Deputy, City of London
Clean Air in London Awards 2013
The following people have been presented with a Clean Air in London Award 2013 (alpha order):
Bianca Jagger Founder and Chair, The Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation
Leading politicians
Caroline Allen Green, Islington
Victoria Borwick AM The Deputy Mayor of London, Conservative
Barry Gardiner MP Ed Miliband’s Special Envoy for Climate Change and the Environment, Labour
Robin Meltzer Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate, Richmond Park, North Kingston and New Malden
John Tomlinson Chairman of the Port Health and Environmental Services Committee,
City of London Corporation
Greater London Authority
Isabel Dedring Deputy Mayor, Transport and Deputy Chair, Transport for London
Elliot Treharne Air Quality Manager
Scientists
Professor Bernard Fisher Former Chair, Institute of Air Quality Management
Dr Fintan Hurley Scientific Director, Institute of Occupational Medicine
Professor Frank Kelly Chair, Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants and Head of the Environmental Research Group, King’s College London
Dr Brian Miller Principal Epidemiologist, Institute of Occupational Medicine
Business people and consultants
Edward Dearnley Consultant
Iarla Kilbane-Dawe Consultant
Steve Moorcroft Director, Air Quality Consultants and Chair, Air Quality Committee, Environmental Protection UK
Simon Pratt Managing Director, Portico. Formerly, Chief Executive, The Knightsbridge Apartments
Local campaigners
Jonathan Callaway Deputy Chairman, The Putney Society
Tim Henderson
Dr Stanislaw Prokop
Caroline Russell Chair, Islington Living Streets
Non-governmental organisations
Louise Duprez European Environmental Bureau
David Kidney Head of Policy, Chartered Institute of Environmental Health
Tamsin Omond Climate Rush
Anne Stauffer Deputy Director, Health and Environment Alliance
Clean Air in London Awards 2014
London Air Quality Network Operated by King’s College London
Leading politicians
Phil Bennion MEP Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands
Emma Dent Coad Labour, Councillor, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Greg Foxsmith Independent, Councillor, London Borough of Islington
Andrew Gwynne MP Labour, Shadow Minister for Health
Phil Jones Labour, Councillor and Cabinet Member, London Borough of Camden
Alastair Moss Conservative, Councillor and Deputy Cabinet Member for Built Environment, City of Westminster
Chris Smith Green, Tower Hamlets Mayoral Candidate
Keith Taylor MEP Green Party Member of the European Parliament for the South East
Frixos Tombolis Conservative, Councillor and Deputy Cabinet Member for City Management, Transport and Environment, City of Westminster
City of London Corporation
Ruth Calderwood Environmental Policy Officer, City of London Corporation
Scientists and medical
Isobel Braithwaite Medical student and Co-ordinator of Healthy Planet UK
Dr Rossa Brugha Clinical Research Fellow at Queen Mary, University of London
Dr Sylvia Medina Co-ordinator of the Aphekom project
Business people
Michael Liebreich Founder, Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Director, Transport for London
Najy Nasser Director, Headstart Advisers Ltd
Local campaigners
Darryl Chamberlain Co-founder, No to Silvertown Tunnel
Stewart Christie No to Silvertown Tunnel. Gallions Bridge campaigner. Liberal Democrat
Alan Haughton Stop City Airport
Sarah Hudson Chair, Barbican Association Sustainability Group
Dr Carolyn McMillan Chair, The Putney Society
Rosco White Stop Horn Lane Pollution (SHLAP)
Non-governmental organisations
Génon Jensen Executive Director, Health and Environment Alliance
Peggy Liu Chairperson, Joint US-China Collaboration on Clean Energy (JUCCCE)
Honorary Founder Supporters
John Tomlinson Chairman of the Port Health and Environmental Services Committee, City of London Corporation
Note: Listed in alphabetical order
CAL 222 Awards 2013_070313 Final V2
CAL 274 Update re CAIC Awards 2014_Final 060514
Abbreviated accounts for period ended 31 December 2011
Abbreviated accounts for year ended 31 December 2012
Abbreviated accounts for year ended 31 December 2013
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