Incentives are needed to boost London air quality

The general public needs to be offered incentives to take action over their emissions and provide a boost for air quality.

This is the view of Camden Council, which told Click Green that while the threat of punishment for non-compliance is a necessary measure, more needs to be done to encourage Londoners to cut down on their output.

Indeed, the local authority's head of sustainability Gloria Esposito believes the carrot and stick method needs to be applied in this case.

She stated that offering initiatives such as free electric car charging, which Camden has recently introduced, can be an effective way of getting drivers to leave their gas guzzling motors at home.

"We now urgently need a far greater range of carrots across the city to enable and encourage 'good' behaviour," she told the website.

London is one of the most polluted cities in Europe and it was recently revealed that hefty fines could be issued if the capital has not made improvements to the air quality in the area in time for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Posted by Lauren Steadman