Air Quality Group
The Air Quality Group brings together clinical, scientific and policy expertise to examine the effects of air pollution on health and advocate for evidence-based action. The Group advises and supports the College on issues including domestic wood burning, air quality monitoring around schools, transport emissions, air quality standards and the relationship between health and climate policy.
Through its work, the Group aims to strengthen understanding of the health impacts of poor air quality, inform public policy and support practical measures that reduce exposure to harmful pollution.
Update from Prof Jill Belch (as part of the 2025 Winter Report)
The RCPE Short term Working Group on Air Pollution has continued to raise awareness about the harms of poor air quality. We have provided scientific evidence to the Scottish Government on the dangers of burning wood in the home, on the absence of air quality monitors round our city schools, and been invited to comment by Holyrood on their new air quality plans, and to provide scientific evidence on health and global warming in Scotland, that will inform their new Climate Change plans.
Two of our Fellows now sit on the Scottish Government Air Quality Advisory Committee, and on the CAF2 public engagement sub-committee. We have formed strong liaisons with other groups concerned about air quality such as Global Action Plan (Clean Air Day), the teachers union, NASUWT, and shared a Holyrood platform with Asthma + lung, Scotland, with a second Holyrood meeting with Environmental Rights Centre, Scotland.
We provide lectures on the subject, with a reach across the Atlantic to New Jersey-wide meetings via Cooper University and plan to link with Fellows in India for an air quality seminar. We have reached out to schools, and will be providing one of our new air quality monitors to an Edinburgh school for a citizen science project, for which RCPE will provide mentoring. The remaining monitors will be used at the start of the year to monitor air quality inside school buses, with the aim of providing the Scottish Government with supporting (or otherwise) evidence for Electric school buses in the future.
Current Priorities
Public and professional awareness
Improving understanding of the effects of air pollution on health through education, collaboration, public engagement and media activity.
Professor Jill Belch OBE, Co-chair of the Air Pollution Working Group, speaks to STV News about the Group’s position on domestic wood burning.
Cyclists urged to wear masks in heavy traffic to cut intake of dangerous pollution, 20.09.26, The Scotsman,
Air quality monitoring around schools
Advocating for improved monitoring to provide better evidence about children’s exposure to air pollution around schools.
Research and coverage
- Proximity of city schools in Scotland to air quality monitors: an exploratory geomapping study in five Scottish cities, BMJ Public Health, 4 May 2026
- Scotland’s MSPs urged to back pilot programme for air pollution monitoring around schools, North Edinburgh News, 30 May 2026
- Children are especially vulnerable to air pollution: we need data on transport emissions near schools, The BMJ, 21 November 2023
- Expert calls for air quality monitors outside every primary school, The Sunday Post, 21 May 2023
- Calls for air monitors in schools to examine pollution risk, Tes Magazine, 14 April 2023
- Medics call for air monitors in Scottish schools, The Scotsman, 13 April 2023
The health effects of domestic wood burning
Raising awareness of the health risks associated with domestic wood burning and supporting stronger measures to reduce harmful emissions.
Media coverage
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh stands against the wood burning lobby, The BMJ, 26 May 2026
Stronger air quality standards and regulation
Providing clinical and scientific evidence to support effective air quality standards, regulation and enforcement across the UK.
Parliamentary and media coverage
- Professor Jill Belch gives evidence on Scotland’s Climate Change Plan, Scottish Parliament Official Report, 13 January 2026
- Doctors call for action on air pollution, HealthandCare.scot, 20 June 2024
Consultation Responses
The Air Pollution Working Group provides clinical and scientific evidence in response to government and parliamentary consultations across the UK. Explore the Group’s latest consultation responses and submissions.
