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Reimagining policies on roadway freight and the health effects of air pollution
Advocacy & politics
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UK public affairs
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Strategy
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Video production
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Policy development
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Social media listening & mapping
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The client
Impact on Urban Health: believes that by identifying, challenging, and acting on inequalities, we can remove the obstacles to healthier lives for everyone
The challenge
Britain is facing an air quality crisis. Air pollution is responsible for 43,000 deaths and £700m in costs for our NHS social care per year.
This public health crisis is being exacerbated by ‘freight’ – in particular the movement of goods on Britain's roadways – which has exploded with the growth of e-commerce and a proliferation of illogical and disorganised delivery systems.
More than forty cities in the United Kingdom exceed World Health Organization limits for air quality and the tragic death of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah was the first in the world to have air pollution cited as the cause of death.
Freight contributes to the 6 million work days lost each year to respiratory health issues while it’s directly responsible for a third of peak traffic congestion and business productivity is suffering from inefficient deliveries.
Ultimately this creates a postcode lottery of extreme health outcomes that exacerbate inequalities - and political action on this crisis has been far too slow
The solution
We understood that while practical solutions to freight-made air pollution are plentiful and in reach, they lack a joined-up approach and cut-through with policymakers.
We undertook deep social media listening of the national conversation on freight - including every single council in the UK - and found that ULEZ or LTNs make up 87% of the discussion.
Clearly the culture war had set in, and with a new Labour government on the horizon, we knew that positioning ‘sustainable freight’ as a health issue, rather than a climate issue, would be more impactful.
Working with Impact on Urban Health and expert stakeholders we crafted the messages and advocacy plan to get sustainable roadway freight on policymaker agendas up and down the country.
In 89up’s Policy Lab we built recommendations for actionable change at local authority and national government level as well as the changes businesses themselves - of all sizes - can make.
To press this home, our Studio team created three videos featuring a Spotlight on Businesses making positive changes on air pollution, making the emotional case in The Walk Home from School, and a visual explainer of the issue starring members of the Impact on Urban Health team, watch them here.
