Questions raised over air quality accolade

A globally recognised standard issued to companies that are deemed to have a positive impact on the environment and air quality has come under scrutiny.

The ISO 14001 was introduced in 1996 and is awarded to firms that have good green credentials.

However, Click Green has reported that a new study has indicated that the accolade may not be as effective as it should be.

A number of companies in Spain were analysed, some of which held ISO 14001 accreditation, while some did not.

Air monitoring results suggested there was little difference between the pollution levels of the two sets of corporations, although the research team admitted that the experiment had only been done on a small scale.

The subject of air pollution is a hot topic at the moment and Green MEP for Brighton Keith Taylor recently launched a report with the intention of raising awareness of the problem, which claims the lives of 29,000 people and contributes to more than 200,000 premature deaths in the UK each year.

Posted by Lauren Steadman