What Other Cities Can Learn From the Failure of London's Low Emission Zone

When it was rolled out in 2008, London’s Low Emission Zone might have looked like a pretty radical move. Slapping a charge of between £100 and £200 (roughly to $150 to $300) per day on any heavily polluting vehicle, this zone covering almost all of Greater London was presented as a broadside against some of Europe’s worst traffic pollution. A new study published last month that charts the zone’s first three years finally shows the consequences that the move has had for citizens’ health. The answer is a shock—the zone has had absolutely no effect whatsoever.

A cautionary tale for cities worldwide, London’s failure shows that simply putting up barriers to access for dirtier vehicles isn’t in itself enough to guarantee a boost in air quality. In fact, pollution continues to harm London’s children at exactly the same rate it did before the zone was introduced.