"In my own city, to help drive down emissions, we are expanding the Ultra Low Emission Zone London-wide, meaning five million more Londoners can breathe cleaner air."
So says London Mayor Sadiq Khan in announcing a $30 million initiative to help cities around the world reduce air pollution.
The Breathe Cities initiative, a partnership between Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Clean Air Fund, and C40 Cities, will provide funding, technical support, air quality data, community engagement, capacity building, and more to help cities reduce air pollution and improve public health, Bloomberg reports.
"Air pollution is also associated with 7 million premature deaths each year," the mayor says in a press release.
"And worldwide, air pollution costs the global economy $8.1 trillion, the equivalent of 6.1% of global GDP."
Almost no urban area has air quality that meets the guidelines of the World Health Organization; 41% of cities have air pollution over 7 times higher than WHO's recommendation, meaning their residents are breathing dangerously polluted air that can cause a suite of health issues such as asthma and respiratory illnesses.
In London, the Ultra Low Emission Zone has already been "revolutionary," reducing harmful nitrogen dioxide concentrations 21% lower in inner London than they would be without the ULEZ and 46% lower in central London
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