Adoption of low emissions zones

Scotland hosts 4 Low Emissions Zones (LEZ) as part of the ‘Cleaner Air for Scotland’ strategy (Scotland’s Environment, 2021). In the Northeast, Aberdeen city centre has been a fully operational LEZ since June 2024 (Aberdeen City Council, 2024 1) - Its outline is shown in figure 1. LEZs can also be found in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee. 

In Scotland air pollution remains a large public health threat, resulting in 1700 deaths every year (Lee and Bernard, 2023). The LEZ scheme is an attempt to reduce this public health threat, based on European emissions standards (Low Emission Zones Scotland, 2024) to discouraging the use of highly polluting vehicles in busy areas. As the scheme is still relatively new in Scotland, its impact on pollution and health is still under investigation. 

The many LEZs in operation throughout Europe offer some foresight into the potential success of similar schemes in Scotland. Amsterdam for example has had a low emission zone in place since 2009, resulting in a significant reduction of air pollution levels within the zone, as identified by Panteliadis et al (2014). Another study on an imagined LEZ in the Swedish city of Malmö predicted such a zone to prevent between 9 and 26 deaths annually, in addition to reducing levels of various other health issues (Flanagan et al, 2022). In the Scottish context, Lee et al (2019) predict the health effects of the Glasgow LEZ (in partial operation since 2018). They suggest the scheme may bring little benefit to public health due to the limited population living within the LEZ, at 7055 people per km2 (Brinkhoff, 2024). In Aberdeen, the population density of the LEZ is even lower at 5,600 per km2 (Brinkhoff, 2024), suggesting a similarly limited health affect may be observed. 

Aside from health benefits, when looking at pollution levels there is already evidence of success in Scotland. Examining Glasgow’s LEZ pollution data from 1997-2023 (fig. 2) reveals a clear reduction in NO2 concentration after the LEZ for buses was implemented in 2018. In fact, NO2 levels fell to below the recommended NO2 limit for the first time as of 2020 (Scottish Government, 2021)*. While other factors such as COVID restrictions may have contributed to this pollution reduction, it is still likely that Scottish LEZs will positively impact pollution levels in city centres. As most Scottish LEZs became fully operational in 2023/24, time will tell as more data is collected. 
*For information on Aberdeen air pollution levels, see the sheet ‘Aberdeen City Air Quality’