This paper presents the results of the first national study of air quality in Britain to consider the implications of its distribution across over ten thousand local communities in terms of potential environmental injustice. We consider the recent history of the environmental justice debate in Britain, Europe, and the USA and, in the light of this, estimate how one aspect of air pollution, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels, affects different population groups differentially across Britain. We also estimate the extent to which people living in each community in Britain contribute towards this pollution, with the aid of information on the characteristics of the vehicles they own. We find that, although community NO x emission and ambient NO2 concentration are strongly related, the communities that have access to fewest cars tend to suffer from the highest levels of air pollution, whereas those in which car ownership is greatest enjoy the cleanest air. Pollution is most concentrated in areas where young children and their parents are more likely to live and least concentrated in areas to which the elderly tend to migrate. Those communities that are most polluted and which also emit the least pollution tend to be amongst the poorest in Britain. There is therefore evidence of environmental injustice in the distribution and production of poor air quality in Britain. However, the spatial distribution of those who produce and receive most of that pollution have to be considered simultaneously to see this injustice clearly.
Abstract:Reducing climate changing emissions associated with residential property continues to be a significant challenge. Five case studies of different domestic energy technology schemes in England highlight the influence of advisers and installers in househol carbon technologies. Many of these advisers and installers are micro-enterprises working in connected groups in particular geographic areas. Such micro-enterprises form a large part of the construction sector, but despite the number of enterprises and the potential impact of changes in the behaviour of the sole traders and small firms, there appears to be little policy that specifically targets this group. Data from these case studies is presented and organised into a typological framework, in order to illustrate the range of ways in which the impact of advisers and installers can be modified. Two of the six factors in the typological framework relate to the motivation of installers themselves and how their work is perceived by their clients. By examining these factors in particular, this paper makes a novel contribution to understanding the factors that influence the take up and use of domestic energy technologies, leading to the possibility of new policy options or interventions. Green Deal is a scheme which allows private householders to repay the costs of energy efficiency improvements through their energy bills rather than needing up front capital payments. The Energy 4Companies Obligation complements the Green Deal by placing a legal requirement on energy suppliers to implement energy efficiency measures, particularly for more vulnerable groups of energy users.Energy technology retrofit clearly has potential to deliver significant emission reductions, but in practice, the success of retrofitting existing building stock to low carbon standards is dependent on social, cultural and economic change as much as technical innovation (Ravetz, 2008). Here, we investigate the role of a largely overlooked change agent in this broadly conceived retrofit process, the energy technology installers and advisers. We explore the interaction of these agents with householders in an effort to better understand their role and influence in the domestic energy retrofit process. We begin by briefly reviewing the factors that affect uptake and use of domestic energy technologies, before moving to the main focus of this paper, the influence of installers and advisers. We explore the role and impact of the adviser and installer through analysis of primary data from five English case studies. We conclude that their role is significant but that some of the characteristics of a large proportion of the advisers and installers mean that they are beyond the reach of current policy interventions. A framework for understanding individual adviser/installer attributes and competencies is developed, which we suggest can help to identify how policy and practice might reach these key individuals and unlock their potential to contribute to, and accelerate, the essential low carbon retrofit...
The local impacts of industrial pollution can take many forms and, whilst uncertain in their scale, severity and distribution, are widely recognized. The question of who in society potentially experiences these impacts through living near to emission sources has been little explored, at least in the UK. This paper reports on a study carried out for the Environment Agency, which examined the distribution of sites coming within the Industrial Pollution Control (IPC) regime against patterns of deprivation. Our analysis provides evidence of a socially unequal distribution of IPC sites in England, with sites disproportionately located and clustered together in deprived areas and near to deprived populations. In discussing these results we emphasise the methodological limitations of this form of environmental justice analysis and the crucial differences between proximity, risk and impact. We also consider the distinction between inequality and injustice and the difficult policy questions which arise when evaluating evidence of environmental inequality, including potential grounds for policy intervention.
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