Half of school children worried about air pollution

Half (49%) of UK school pupils are worried about air pollution near their school, according to a YouGov poll commissioned by Sustrans. That's an increase of 10 percentage points since a similar survey ran in 2018.

The poll surveyed 1,305 pupils aged six to 15 years old across the UK asking them about their attitudes towards air pollution and the climate crisis.

Just over three fifths (62%) don’t think adults are doing enough to tackle climate change, while 71% of the pupils admitting to feeling worried about climate change.

And just over half (53%) believing that adults don’t listen to children’s concerns about the topic.

Switching to active modes of transport was seen amongst respondents as the best way to help reduce the impacts of both air pollution and climate change.

40% of pupils thought more people walking, cycling or scooting to school was the best way to bring down levels of air pollution near their school.

38% thought that walking and cycling more for local journeys was the most important thing adults should be doing to tackle climate change overall – the highest-rated answer.

Almost three fifths (57%) of pupils described the environment around their school as having too many cars.
    
30% of pupils are ‘worried’ and 29% are ‘sad’ that transport makes more greenhouse gases in the UK than anything else, with private vehicle use, especially cars, making up the biggest part of this.
    
Seven times as many pupils want to cycle to school and five times as many want to scoot to school more than they currently do. Whilst 2% currently cycle, 14% want to, and whilst 2% currently scoot to school, 10% would like to.

Xavier Brice, CEO of Sustrans, said: "The results of this survey highlight the responsibility we have to create a healthier, greener and fairer society for the generation coming after us.

“There are a large number of cars on the road during the morning peak doing the school run.