Since 1974, World Environment Day has been held annually on 5th June. The day has been a flagship event to promote awareness of environmental issues and threats from marine pollution to human overpopulation. The day has grown to become a global platform for public outreach, with participation from over 143 countries annually. Each year, 1 country is chosen as the official host.

This year, the theme for the day is ‘Beat Air Pollution’ and it has been announced that China will host the global celebrations. The scope of the problem caused by air pollution cannot be underestimated. Annually, around 7 million people die prematurely from air pollution, and approximately 4 million of these deaths occur in the Asia-Pacific region. As a country, China has made drastic changes to reduce the amount of air pollution that it creates. The country hosts 99% of the world’s electric buses and around half of the world’s electric vehicles. But there is still so much more that can be done.

This year’s topic of ‘Beat Air Pollution’ invites us all to reflect on how we can change our daily lives to reduce the amount of air pollution we produce, and thus thwart its contribution to global warming and effects on our own health. We can all do our bit to help tackle air pollution, such as stopping the use of diesel vehicles as almost half of all deaths by air pollution from transport are caused by diesel emissions.

The Lib Dems are committed to bringing forward the ban on new diesel and petrol cars to 2025 and 2030 respectively and help fast track the uptake of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Locally here in Reading we are committed to introducing a Low Emissions Zone to the centre of our town for the most polluting vehicles.

To find out more about what you can do to help tackle air pollution this World Environment Day, head to https://www.worldenvironmentday.global/

You can follow the events on social media through the hash tags #BeatAirPollution and #WorldEnvironmentDay

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