Key information
Request reference number: MGLA030123-6550
Date of response:
Summary of request
Your request
As Sadiq Khan is so concerned with clean air for Londoners, could his office provide details on pollution levels emitted from the New Year’s Eve fireworks on 31 December 2022.
Can this be quantified in equivalence to how many cars would be required to generate the same levels of pollution, what impact this would likely have had on the air quality for the observers on the night and also the longer term impact to air quality overall.
Sadiq Khan seems to have all the answers when comes to expanding the ULEZ stealth tax so I would expect a substantial response with accurate statistics and data.
Our response
The Mayor is committed to tackling the climate emergency and improving London’s air quality, and is taking action by carefully managing the environmental impacts of GLA events.
Environment and sustainability are embedded in the procurement and contracting process for London’s New Year’s Eve event, with an environmental plan to manage key environmental impacts which the event management company consider throughout the planning and delivery process. These practices have meant that this year’s emissions were reduced by 23% since 2016.
In terms of emissions from the fireworks, these are very low relative to overall annual emissions; for instance the emissions of the main pollutants for human health were calculated as NOx is 18.63kg out of approximately 35,7010.88 tonnes annual emissions (0.00005%), and PM 2.5 is 18.5kg of approximately 3,331.04 tonnes annual emissions (0.0005%). The CO2 emissions of 287kg are offset through a UK based tree planting programme.
The GLA does not hold information that directly compares the emission levels from the fireworks event with vehicle emissions.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI Act) provides public access to information held by public authorities. It does this in two ways:
- public authorities are obliged to publish certain information about their activities; and
- members of the public are entitled to request information from public authorities.
The FOI Act covers any recorded information that is held by a public authority. A request can be in the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, but the authority does not have to answer a question if this would mean creating new information or giving an opinion or judgment that is not already recorded.
Please see the ICO’s website if you would like further guidance relating to the FOI Act.
If you have any further questions relating to this matter, please contact us, quoting reference MGLA030123-6550.