NCAS NPG
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leeds
Department Name: National Centre for Atmospheric Science
Abstract
NCAS will undertake a programme of activities which are driven principally by NERC's definition of national and public good. NC-NPG funding supports activities that will strengthen national security, resilience, economic growth and societal benefit through provision of independent scientific and expert advice, or other services required by government and the wider public. In this context, NCAS will undertake the following activities:
1) Providing advice to Government.
2) Responding to national emergencies.
3) Providing advice to non-governmental organisations.
4) Research and development enabling the above activities, where neither the NCAS science research programme nor another organisation can provide the input..
1) Providing advice to Government.
2) Responding to national emergencies.
3) Providing advice to non-governmental organisations.
4) Research and development enabling the above activities, where neither the NCAS science research programme nor another organisation can provide the input..
Planned Impact
NCAS national and public good activities have a diverse range of impacts. The activities include:
1) Providing advice to government. The work is mainly performed through government committees and reports to government and international agencies. The impacts are principally on government policy.
2) Responding to national emergencies. The impacts are often extremely large, depending on the nature of the emergency. Past NCAS activities in this area have resulted in cost savings to the nation of many hundreds of millions of pounds.
3) Providing advice to non-governmental organisations. These activities are undertaken principally when there exists a significant national need but a purely economic relationship is inappropriate. The impacts are reputational (to NERC and NCAS) and indurectly, often lead to changes in government policy.
1) Providing advice to government. The work is mainly performed through government committees and reports to government and international agencies. The impacts are principally on government policy.
2) Responding to national emergencies. The impacts are often extremely large, depending on the nature of the emergency. Past NCAS activities in this area have resulted in cost savings to the nation of many hundreds of millions of pounds.
3) Providing advice to non-governmental organisations. These activities are undertaken principally when there exists a significant national need but a purely economic relationship is inappropriate. The impacts are reputational (to NERC and NCAS) and indurectly, often lead to changes in government policy.
Organisations
| Description | Scientific contributions to the Defra Air Quality Expert Group - A Lewis, J Allan, S Moller NCAS provide three members of the external science advisory committee to the UK government on issues associated with air pollution. Outputs from this NPG activity include direct advice to government officials, briefings directly to the responsible minister via round-table meetings and publicly available reports developed in 2018 on i) air pollution from agriculture, ii) impacts of vegetation on urban air pollution, iii) ultra fine particles in the UK and iv) the air quality impacts of shale gas extraction in the UK. See: https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/library/aqeg/publications Scientific evidence to the Joint House of Commons Parliamentary Inquiry on 'Improving Air Quality' (2018) - A Lewis and S Moller NCAS provided a detailed evidential response to the joint Defra, DfT, DHSC House of Commons select committee inquiry on improving air quality in the UK. The evidence submitted by NCAS was cited ten times in the final Inquiry report and in its policy recommendations. Research from NCAS was also then cited in the official Government response. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmenvfru/433/433.pdf http://data.parliament.uk/WrittenEvidence/CommitteeEvidence.svc/EvidenceDocument/Environment,%20Food%20and%20Rural%20Affairs/Joint%20inquiry%20into%20improving%20air%20quality/written/73134.pdf Development of the Defra Clean Air Strategy - A Lewis Staff from NCAS provided written evidence and analysis to Defra, and gave briefings on the science associated with emissions and chemistry of VOCs, and this was used to underpin the development of new national policy concepts for VOC emissions reductions, now set out in the 2019 Clean Air Strategy. Lewis provided scientific support to Defra as part of a industry ministerial round-table meeting to discuss reduction options relating to domestic emissions of VOCs, leading to proposals for voluntary industry labelling schemes for consumer products. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/770715/clean-air-strategy-2019.pdf Scientific support to the World Meteorological Organisation Global Atmosphere Watch Programme - A Lewis, J Lee, J Hopkins, P Edwards NCAS made expert contributions to the development and maintenance of internationally agreed guidelines for the measurement of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, including contributing to international expert panels and authorship of reports published by WMO. NCAS lead the production of a 2018 WMO GAW summary guide for users such as national weather services and environmental agencies on the future use of lower cost sensors in air quality monitoring, providing both the lead editor and two further author contributors. See: http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/arep/gaw/documents/Low_cost_sensors_18_Oct.pdf Natural Hazards Partnership - S Moller, S Mobbs NCAS contributes scientific expertise and support to the joint Natural hazards Partnership, a cross-government initiative for the prediction and management of environment hazards and risk. NCAS provided scientific leadership of the text and advice containing within the current air pollution hazard risk h the Cabinet Office National Risk Assessment. Sixth Assessment Report of the IPCC NCAS is contributing to the preparation of the Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. One member of NCAS staff (R. Sutton) was an invited participant in the Scoping Meeting to design the report, and two others (E. Hawkins and A. Turner) are Lead Authors. Several other members of NCAS staff are Contributing Authors. |
| Sector | Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | Support for Government Air Quality Policy |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Impact | o Leadership of, or substantial contributions to, Defra reports and reviews of "Non-Exhaust Emissions from Road Traffic"; "Potential Impacts on Air Quality of Shale Gas Extraction in the UK "; "Assessing the Effectiveness of Interventions on Air Quality "; " Non-methane VOCs in the UK" o At the request of Defra in March 20 ran a public call for evidence and review of the air quality and COVID-19 "Estimation of changes in air pollution emissions, concentrations and exposure during the COVID-19 outbreak in the UK". o At the request of the Defra CSA and SAGE, worked with the ONS to evaluate the impacts of historical air quality exposure on COVID-19 mortality rates."Does exposure to air pollution increase the risk of dying from the coronavirus?" o At the request of Defra led an initial AQEG review of the potential impacts of Net Zero on air quality "Impacts of Net Zero pathways on future air quality in the UK" o Provided scientific evidence and advice at multiple round-table meetings, including to the Secretary of State for Environment, and provided direct scientific briefing to the Minister of State with responsibility for Air Quality. o Gave written and oral evidence to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee, and recent parliamentary reports on Improving Air Quality (2019) and (2020), with NCAS science and recommendations being cited more than 20 times. o Provided expert written and oral evidence to the House of Commons Public Bill Committee (2020) when it debated the Environment Bill and technical reports to support Defra in their development of PM 2.5 air quality targets for inclusion in the Bill. |